Jobs market braces for interest rate fallout
Turning down the heat
New Zealand’s jobs market remains extremely tight, with fierce competition for talent, and skills shortages in some sectors.
However, the heat appears to be dissipating somewhat, with job ads falling for the second consecutive month.
Recruitment activity has been at historically high levels, so some easing was inevitable in the face of sharply rising interest rates, designed to dampen economic activity and get inflation under control.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand believes the country’s labour market is effectively at full capacity, with the unemployment rate at 3.3% for the September quarter, a high number of hours worked and a historically high rate of participation.
Wages are also moving higher as businesses bid for scarce talent in a fully stretched market.
The dark cloud hanging over the economy is centred on inflation, the drastic interest rate response from the Reserve Bank and the possibility that this could induce a recession.
This report uncovers what’s happening across New Zealand, looking at how the workforce has been impacted, the challenges employers face in the current landscape and trends in national recruitment activity.
