“Job ads in New Zealand rose again in September, extending a run of month-on-month growth that’s held for some time now,” Swift said.
“That said, the pace has eased over the past six months, settling into a narrower band of 0.1% to 0.3% month on month growth.
“Still, hiring demand remains well above last year’s levels.”
The South Island outpaced the rest of the country for monthly hiring activity, with Tasman (+2.3%), Southland (+1.8%) and Otago (+1.7%) posting the strongest monthly gains.
Job ad volumes in Auckland rose 0.7% on a monthly basis.
Hawke’s Bay (-1.5%) and Taranaki (-1.2%) were among the few regions to ease month on month.
“Hospitality and tourism had a particularly strong September, growing over 3% in the month, with businesses clearly gearing up for summer,” Swift said.
“We saw a real surge in demand for travel agents, tour guides and airline roles.”
Across all sectors, only professional services fell on a monthly basis in September, with demand for marketing and communications roles down 2.1%, accounting roles down 1.3% and information and communication technology roles down 1.1%.
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) skills within the workplace grew, with job ads referencing AI skills rising 3.7% in September, compared with the previous month and are now 88.2% higher year on year.
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter – your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.