Some positive news has been reported about job growth in Otago though wage increases remain tight.<\/p>\n
The Employment Hero Jobs Report said Otago\u2019s small and medium-sized businesses were expanding their workforces again, with data for May showing the region has experienced a resurgence in hiring over recent months.<\/p>\n
Otago\u2019s month-on-month employment growth reached 4% in May, based on a rolling three-month average, significantly outperforming the national growth rate of 0.6% and signalling renewed momentum after a softer start to 2026.<\/p>\n
The latest figures suggest employers have resumed hiring following a brief slowdown earlier this year, lifting employment growth above the levels recorded throughout much of the second half of 2025.<\/p>\n
The Jobs Report was a monthly snapshot of New Zealand\u2019s labour market, with the Otago findings based on payroll data from more than 5100 local employees.<\/p>\n
The recent acceleration suggests the region is closing the gap as employment opportunities increase.<\/p>\n
Average monthly hours worked were 130.9 hours, with hours continuing to increase over recent months.<\/p>\n
The lower figure, compared with the national average, reflected Otago\u2019s workforce mix, including a large tertiary student population and high levels of seasonal and part-time employment.<\/p>\n
Wage growth remains subdued.<\/p>\n
Otago recorded 0.8% annual wage growth in May (three-month rolling average), slightly ahead of the national figure of 0.0%, but still well below inflation.<\/p>\n
Wages have shown modest improvement in recent months, increasing 0.4% month-on-month in April and 0.6% month-on-month in May, suggesting early signs of upward momentum.<\/p>\n
The region\u2019s median hourly wage sits at $33.40, below the national median of $36.00, which is influenced by higher wages in Auckland and Wellington.<\/p>\n
Employment Hero general manager New Zealand Neil Webster said Otago\u2019s labour market appeared to be entering a new phase of growth.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018The most encouraging aspect of this data is the turnaround we\u2019ve seen over the past three months.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018After a relatively subdued start to the year, businesses are hiring again, with employment growth now well ahead of the national average.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The recent hiring momentum suggested many SMEs (small and medium enterprises) were moving from a cautious approach to investing in new staff, Mr Webster said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Employment growth is often one of the clearest indicators that businesses are seeing enough demand to justify expanding their workforce.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Otago\u2019s recent figures suggest SMEs are beginning to shift from holding steady to growing again.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite the improvement in hiring, Mr Webster said wages remained the biggest challenge.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We\u2019re seeing more employment opportunities emerge, but wage growth continues to be constrained.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018While Otago is performing slightly better than the national picture, where wages have effectively flatlined, earnings are still growing more slowly than the cost of living.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018The next challenge for employers will be translating stronger business activity into stronger wage growth.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Otago\u2019s workforce profile also helped explain why average hours worked remain below the national average, Mr Webster said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Otago has a unique employment mix, with a significant student population alongside seasonal industries such as tourism and hospitality.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That naturally results in a higher proportion of part-time work than many other regions.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018What\u2019s important is that employment and hours worked are both moving in the right direction.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some positive news has been reported about job growth in Otago though wage increases remain tight. The Employment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-516114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}