Labour Market Update - A mixed bag for the 3rd quarter

So Spring has sprung, daylight saving is upon us and it feels like we’re on the home stretch towards the end of the year. At the end of the third quarter, let’s take a look over how the market has fared in what has been quite a mixed bag of months.

In the latest Westpac McDermott Miller Employment Confidence survey, employment confidence fell 2 points to 89.2 - around the position it was during the pandemic and there was a perception among respondents that jobs are becoming harder to find.

Falling interest rates did seem to have increased confidence in some areas, but respondents felt that it would still take a while for it to flow through into proper job prospects. So it feels like there are some more tough months to come.

Job ads up? No, not really

This quarter brought a small glimmer of optimism that perhaps things were beginning to turn, with job ad numbers rising month on month from June to July. Seek figures showed a 3% month-on-month increase over that period. In August, however, the news wasn’t so good with a 1% drop in ad numbers compared to the previous month. The rise was in part a result of ads in the retail and tourism sector possibly as businesses start to recruit for a summer uptick in business.

Year on year, numbers are down significantly, especially in the major centres - Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

We’ve seen similar fluctuations at Do Good Jobs, with flurries of listings and then quiet periods. And often organisations are just listing single vacancies rather than growing teams with multiple new roles.

Application numbers per ad are still high and are still climbing month on month.

What does that mean for your organisation?

Pretty much the same as it meant last quarter! If you have plans to expand your team or need to replace a team member, then, if you have the budget, now could be a great time to recruit. With plenty of jobseekers still out there, including many of those public servants who have been laid off through recent reductions, you’re likely to get a significant number of applications. And by recruiting now you could potentially get your new hire in before Christmas or ready to hit the ground running early in the new year.

And just like last quarter, you might also find that many of those applicants simply aren’t suitable for your role. So it’s important to sift through them carefully, firstly to weed out those that aren’t a good fit, but also to ensure you don’t miss any gems in a big pile. It’s times like these when good recruitment procedures are key to ensure you can do a thorough job without spending unnecessary time. Read some tips here.

Getting back to the office

One big news item for the sector came late in the quarter with a government announcement that it wants to see public servants back in the office.

Public Service Minister Nicola Willis and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the move at a press conference earlier this week. While working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic was necessary and allowed many businesses to keep being productive during lockdowns, continued widespread working from home is now potentially damaging productivity they say. Plus Wellington’s CBD needs people back in it for other businesses to survive.

While working from home will still be an option, it will now need to be seen as an entitlement and must be clearly agreed, recorded and monitored.

Interestingly a report out from CBRE this week shows that people are already back in the office more than in previous years, but that hybrid working is still popular with 91% of organisations surveyed saying they supported a hybrid model.

What does that mean for your organisation?

While the government edict has only been applied to its own agencies, there has been a move in New Zealand and overseas but many organisations to get workers back to the office. So, it’s something you may want to consider if you haven’t already. 

First up - you’ll need to have the right conversations among your leadership team to determine whether enforcing an office-based working week works for your organisation and your team, and what that looks like. Then you’ll need to talk to employees individually to ensure they have a system that works for them especially if they’ve been working from home up until now.

It’s worth noting too, that for jobs which can be done remotely, there is still a desire among many workers to work remotely or at least have a hybrid set-up which sees a mix of working from home and in the office. It is always one of the top perks when we survey our jobseeker community.  So if you can offer that as an organisation, you’ll be more attractive to many candidates compared to an organisation that mandates every day in the office. You’ll also open your vacancy up to a more diverse set of candidates as many of those with physical or mental health challenges do better in roles that offer flexibility. Read our blog on how hybrid working can benefit your organisation here.

Picking up a side hustle

As the cost of living continues to bite, it seems that many people are considering a side hustle to make ends meet.

This RNZ story discusses how people are adding weekend or after hours work to their full-time job in order to bring in some extra income.

And this study from IKEA found that 43% of respondents wanted to use part of their home to make money, such as turning spare rooms into Airbnb options or converting garages into home businesses or granny flats to rent out.

What does that mean for your organisation?

It possibly won’t have any impact at all, but it might be worth keeping an eye on employees to check that they aren’t trying to do too much and running the risk of burning out. That won’t help them or your organisation.

If you do have employees who are struggling, ensure they feel safe discussing it with their team leaders or managers and that you can help them put a plan in place before the problem gets too big.

So that’s it for another, slightly gloomy, update. We’ll be back again at the end of the year when hopefully some Christmas cheer will have infiltrated the job market and we can look forward to thriving in 2025.