SEEK’s latest employment marketplace report says job ad numbers declined across New Zealand in July, with only a few ‘pockets of growth’

Employment marketplace SEEK NZ says job advertisements fell for a fourth consecutive month, down by almost 1% in July.

In its July employment report, SEEK found hiring demand fell again, with the number of national job ads down 0.8% compared to June. Annually, job ad volumes were up 6.2% compared to a year earlier.

Applications per job ad – which are recorded with a one-month lag – rose for a second month, up 1.6% in June. This is a sign of a tighter job market as it shows there are more applicants applying for a smaller number of job ads.

Job ads are a good indicator of trends in the labour market as they reflect the appetite of both jobseekers and employers.

New Zealand’s current unemployment rate is 5.6%, according to the latest labour market statistics from Statistics NZ, with 166,500 people unemployed during that period.

It is the highest rate of unemployment that NZ has experienced since March 2014.

The lucky four

SEEK Country Manager Rob Clark said job ads remain strongest in the South Island, while large North Island centres, including Auckland, Wellington and Waikato, “continue to face greater headwinds.”

“July saw a further decline in job ads across New Zealand, with only pockets of growth,” he said.

All regions in July recorded a monthly fall in job ads, apart from Hawke’s Bay (up 0.4%), Marlborough (up 1.9%), the West Coast (up 2.6%) and Otago (up 0.1%). 

SEEK said in the South Island, job ad volume growth was likely driven by a rise in hospitality, tourism and construction roles across regional areas outside Canterbury.

Canterbury, which had previously been “notably resilient” over the past 12 months, recorded its second monthly decline in July, with job ad volumes down 0.3%. 

However, there was still job ad growth across several large hiring industries in Canterbury during July, including manufacturing, transport and logistics (up 2.0%) and trades and services (up 1.3%). 

SEEK said the growth in these areas was offset by a 1.7% decline in construction roles in July, which had previously helped support the region over the past year.

“Construction has been a key driver of growth in recent months, particularly in the South Island, but it weakened in July and the industry is no longer lifting the national figures,” Clark said.

In Auckland, job ads dropped 0.9% month-on-month, led by declines in major hiring industries like sales (down 2.4%) and manufacturing, transport and logistics (down 1.8%). Trades and services roles in Auckland were also down 1.9% in July compared to a month earlier.

In Wellington, a drop in government and defence, accounting and healthcare and medical roles was behind the 1.3% monthly fall in job ad growth in that region during July.

The four industries that recorded the highest job ad growth in July were mining resources and energy (up 3.3%), education and training (up 2.1%), engineering (up 0.6%) and real estate and property (up 0.5%). 

Mining resources and energy recorded the strongest sustained growth of all industries over the past year, up 38.5% since July 2025, according to SEEK.

Construction, which had driven growth across multiple regions for many months, declined 0.9% nationally in July. 

Demand for workers on construction projects in South Island regions outside Canterbury continued to rise, up 2.7% on a monthly basis, but fell elsewhere.

Industrial sector up, consumer services sector down

Across the regions in the South Island, the West Coast recorded the largest annual gains in job ad volumes, jumping 25% compared to July 2025. In the North Island, the biggest annual increase in job ads on a regional level was in Hawke’s Bay, where they were up 17.5% compared to a year ago.

Despite subdued hiring in recent months, many large hiring industries are also still recording strong annual demand, according to SEEK’s report. 

The industrial sector – mining, manufacturing and farming roles – has grown 20.5% in the year to July. The construction sector – construction, engineering and trades roles – increased by 18.1% in the same period.

SEEK said the consumer services sector was the only sector to record an annual decline in job ad volumes, falling 2% since July last year. 

Under consumer services, hospitality and tourism job ads fell 2% on an annual basis while real estate and property roles dipped 9.7%. The number of advertising, arts and media job ads has tumbled 20.4% since July 2025.

According to SEEK, 3.7% of all job ads in NZ in July referenced AI skills, compared to 2.1% in Australia. Job ads with low automation exposure jumped 13.7% year-on-year and job ads with high exposure rose 2.3%. Annually, job ads referencing AI skills rose by 94.1% in July, compared to 109.4% in the year to June.

“Demand for AI -related skills continues to rise, with the strongest growth in ethics and governance. This suggests AI is moving beyond a specialised technical skillset in a handful of white-collar industries and becoming part of broader business practice, particularly at senior levels,” Clark said.