Job ads were up in Auckland. Photo: CORBIS
The year has started with a jump in the number of job ads following five months of steady decline.
The SEEK NZ Employment Report for January indicated the labour market was "extremely tight" with the number of job ads up 1 percent month-on-month, and the number of applications per job ad up 6 percent.
"Job ad volumes took a positive turn in January, rising for the first time in five months (August)," SEEK country manager Rob Clark said.
"This was led by a 10 percent boost in retail and consumer jobs, the greatest jump that industry has seen in over two years."
Demand for marketing and communications roles (+18 percent) drove total job ads up in January.
Information and communication technology (-5 percent) and hospitality & tourism (-2 percent) were the largest industries by volume to record a decline in job ads.
Clark said there were also some regional month-on-month variations, with job ads down in Northland, Marlborough and Canterbury, flat in Wellington and up in Auckland.
"Ad levels in Manawatu were up 20 percent, driven by rises in large hiring industries including trades and services and manufacturing, transport and logistics.
"With the population surging over the past year and more people in the country available for work, competition among candidates has become extremely tight, as demonstrated by peaking applications per job ad levels each month."
However, when looking at annual variations in job numbers, volumes were down in every region, but Gisborne, with an overall drop of 24 percent on the year earlier.