Job Adverts Rise: Good News for Christchurch and Auckland Jobseekers

The official numbers may look bleak, but watch out for the silver lining.

Statistics New Zealand surprised the public, including seasoned commentators when they revealed the recent unemployment figures - up to 7.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2009, from 6.5 in the previous quarter.

Let’s break that down to easily digestible figures. Some 2000 people lost their jobs in that quarter, causing the labour force to balloon by an additional 16,000 people.

Yes, the figures may look daunting, but recent trends in job advertisement postings in online job site Seek, suggest otherwise. Annemarie Duff, the company’s general manager, reports that job advertisements being posted online were actually rising!

Let’s repeat that word for emphatic purpose: rising!

Which can only mean one thing: there are actually more jobs available these days than what the unemployment figures are suggesting. In fact, Duff reported that the number of job advertisements being posted is rising at a faster clip than the rate of applicants. Now we don’t often talk about Seek around here in these parts :)  but when there’s reports of job growth we have to take some note and pass on this news.

Standing to reap the greatest benefits are jobseekers from Auckland, who dominated with a 15.9 per cent growth in the previous month. Christchurch and Wellington follow with modest yet positive growth figures of 0.4 and 1.1 percent respectively.

Finally, some good news is coming our way on the employment end for Christchurch! Perhaps a quick yet substantial visit to the www.ChristchurchJobs.co.nz will yield some positive career rewards for you too.

I’m sure a few clicks on the good ol’ mouse won’t hurt. While you’re there why not create a free job alert with our career tools.