Trade Me Jobs says skilled trades and professions are likely to remain in high demand in 2016, even though there are now more candidates applying for vacancies.
“Indications are that 2016 is shaping up to favour employers more than job hunters, as seen in the latter part of 2015, with Auckland being the major exception with its continued growth and demand for workers,” says Head of Trade Me Jobs Peter Osborne.
He predicts the surge in job advertising in the Construction and Trades sectors should settle into a more sustainable level of demand in Christchurch while large infrastructure programmes and the growth of Auckland continues to drive its need for skilled trades people.
“Skilled trades and professions are likely to remain in relatively high demand while applicants for hospitality and tourism, customer service and office admin jobs, in particular, may find it harder to secure a role with increased job hunter competition in these sectors,” says Osborne.
In the final quarter of 2015, there was an explosion in the number of job applications according to the websites latest data.
Osborne says analysis of more than 58,000 listings in the three months to December showed that growth in job listings was slowing with only a modest 2.2% growth in the last quarter.
During the final quarter of last year, the average number of applicants received per listing was up 12% in the previous quarter.
“This increase means employers should find it easier to fill roles and job hunters are going to have a tougher time landing a job. Put simply, there are now more candidates for employers to choose from,” says Osborne.
“Overall, we still expect new job advertising to increase in the foreseeable future but with a greater breadth of highs and lows across regions and industry sectors as we saw in the last quarter of 2015.”
