Jobs bonanza as firms seek more workers

Ian Simpson

Now this is good news.

Nearly half New Zealand's companies expect to take on more staff next year in the strongest forecast of hiring intentions in five years.

An international employment consultancy which interviewed 1841 local firms was told 45 per cent planned to hire more staff in the first six months of next year.

Only 9 per cent expected to shed labour.

This means a net 36 per cent of New Zealand companies are hungry for more labour, 5 percentage points up on TMP/Hudson Global Resources' previous survey, taken about six months earlier.

The Hudson Report, out today, has found the strongest hiring intentions since 1999.

These have rocketed even after a period of job growth that reduced unemployment to a 16-year low of 4.4 per cent.

Three years ago, some pundits were predicting that unemployment would never drop much below 5 per cent in a modern economy.

But the jobs boom continues to tighten a labour market that is increasingly having to look overseas for skilled workers.

Apprentice training organisations are snapping up as many local school-leavers as they can get.

The Institute of Economic Research's latest quarterly survey of business opinion found a net 16 per cent of firms said difficulty finding suitable staff was the greatest impediment to growth.

The Hudson Report records positive hiring intentions from all 13 industries in its survey, led by construction and property, in which a net 55 per cent of firms plan to recruit more staff.

This is followed by the information technology industry (54 per cent) and the public service (44 per cent).

Although the report says higher interest rates may eventually take some steam out of the property boom, the survey findings "do not reflect any concerns about a downturn in the industry".

One building industry chief, Shane Brealey of Australian-owned Multiplex Construction, said he could hire up to 50 per cent more salaried staff, such as project managers, in the next 12 months - if he could find them.

Subcontractors are desperately short of tradespeople from carpenters to concrete workers and tilers, although Mr Brealey says numbers of electrical and mechanical staff "seem to be okay".

Training organisations are making efforts to persuade school careers advisers and parents of the benefits in pointing youngsters towards practical qualifications, and have increased the number of building industry apprentices to 4900.

The biggest increase in hiring intentions is in healthcare, where the percentage of organisations expecting to hire staff has more than doubled - to a net 41 per cent from 17 per cent in the previous survey.

This may have followed speculation that the recent large Government surplus may bring an increase in spending on health, say the Hudson Report's authors.

Builders the Herald contacted yesterday also reported more projects such as roading and educational facilities.

Retailers look likely to continue their expansion, as a net 34 per cent expect to hire more staff.

The report says this reflects consumer optimism, caused by low inflation and imported goods remaining price-competitive because of the high value of the dollar.

Chains such as The Warehouse, Mitre 10 and rival home improvements company Bunnings Warehouse are continuing to expand, and Briscoes is about to announce plans to build two or three more outlets in the next six months.

The group is opening two more shops today, a Briscoes in Cambridge and a Rebel Sports store in Porirua.

Medium-sized businesses employing 20 to 200 staff are more confident than small or large firms.

The Hudson survey noted that the small businesses that make up the bulk of the economy showed the lowest increase in optimism, perhaps because of concerns about increased compliance costs from changes to employment legislation.

TMP/Hudson's New Zealand manager, Greg Thompson, said employers had to be "much smarter" about how they attracted and kept talented staff.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3537371&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

JCM

Ian Simpson · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 5:43 am Post subject:

More good news on the jobs front I would say.

November manufacturing shows expansion continues
18 December 2003

For a third straight month, New Zealand's manufacturing sector has been charging ahead, a monthly survey shows.

The latest ANZ-Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) indicates that manufacturing was in full swing for the Christmas season during November, with a reading of 64.4.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates manufacturing is expanding.

November's figure is largely unchanged from October (64.6), up from September (59.6) and close to November last year (65).

The surge in activity was broadbased ahead of Christmas, the ANZ said.

"Indeed many firms were struggling to fit in extra work prior to the Christmas wind-down," ANZ chief economist David Drage said.

"Nevertheless, firms with an export focus continued to report difficulties associated with the sharp recovery in the New Zealand dollar, both established exporters and new entrants diversifying into the export market."

This indicated domestic customers were driving the demand.

Four of the five component indices showed that expansion was still strong during November, although some dipped slightly on the previous month.

New orders were slightly lower at 69.1, as was production (66.9) and employment recorded its highest value since the survey began (61.2).

Deliveries of raw materials were up from October (63.9), while finished stocks fell to their lowest value since May (51.1) as stocks depleted in the lead-up to Christmas.

Expansion was evident across all company sizes and all sectors in November. Medium-sized businesses led the way (69) and metal products was the fastest growing sector (70.2).

All four regions were experiencing strong growth, led by Otago-Southland (73.4) and Canterbury-Westland (69.0).

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2760717a13,00.html