Job Vacancies Steady in May

The latest Jobs Online index shows steady growth in vacancies advertised online in the three months to May, driven by strong growth in demand for skilled workers in Canterbury.

Overall, online vacancies increased by 2.3% between February and May 2011 and skilled vacancies were 1.9% higher.

Skilled vacancies in Canterbury rose 12.6% between February and May 2011, with construction and engineering showing large increases.

The Department of Labour’s Head of Research, Vasantha Krishnan, says “this may be associated with the anticipated reconstruction activity needed following the February 2011 earthquake.”

“Strong skills demand in Canterbury may also be flowing to the rest of the South Island where growth was up 6.8%.”

Growth in skilled vacancies was weak in Auckland (up 0.1%) and slipped by 0.4% in Wellington.

Industries with the biggest growth nationally were construction and engineering (up by 10.7%) and accounting, HR, legal and admin (up by 7.2%).

Skilled vacancies were 21.7% higher than a year ago, while vacancies overall were 20.1% higher.

Skilled vacancies were higher in most industries, across all the main occupational groups, and in most regions, when compared to February 2011.