Labour Market Update - Q4 - we reach the end of 2025 with some optimism

And so we are nearly at the end of another year.

It’s been another tough one in Aotearoa, New Zealand. We’ve seen public sector job cuts, charities and not-for-profits struggling for funding and purpose-led organisations like The Ākina Foundation closing their doors, pay equity claims scrapped by the Government and cost-of-living rises.

It feels like many New Zealanders are tired and ready for the year to be over. That was certainly the sentiment in our latest LinkedIn “how are you feeling?” poll that we run around the end of each quarter. More than half reported that they can’t wait for the year to end.

But beyond the gloom, there have been glimmers of better times ahead. The economy is showing signs of recovery, and may not have been as bad this year as first thought. For-purpose organisations are still doing fab things across the country, even if they are having to do more with less, and even within government, there have been some positive developments, such as the Social Investment Fund announced just before the Budget.

Just under 30% of our LinkedIn respondents said they were feeling better than they were at the start of the year, so hopefully the momentum continues to grow in 2026. And, yes, we know we said that at the end of 2024 when we were all planning to “thrive in 25”. It ended up being more like survive than thrive, but here’s hoping for next year!

In the meantime, in our last labour market update for the year, let’s take a quick look back at some key stats and stories from the past three months.

Job ads are on the up

This month we’ve seen a bit of a pre-Christmas slowdown down but the other two months in this quarter, October and November, saw good numbers of listings on the Do Good Jobs board and, encouragingly, a wide number of different employers listing vacancies.

That uptick in job ads seems to have been reflected in the wider jobs market too, with SEEK data from November showed job ads were up 9% year on year, and had shown consistent growth overall. It’s interesting to note that the South Island seems to be doing better than the North Island - perhaps still suffering from the widespread public sector job cuts and hiring restrictions in Wellington and affected by lower vacancy numbers in Auckland.

MBIE’s Jobs Online data also shows growth with vacancies up 3.5% in the year to September (the latest available data).

The SEEK data also showed that for the first time since 2022, the number of job applications per ad dropped. We’re still seeing good numbers of applicants for our advertised listings - perhaps because our jobseeker community is targeted and more likely to be proactive. But jobseekers will no doubt be comforted by the thought that competition for roles might finally be dropping.

Consumer confidence is also on the up

The Wespac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index rose 5.6points in December to 96.5.

The number of households reporting that they expect economic conditions to improve over the coming year is the highest it’s been since 2021. Increased confidence has also seen a lift in discretionary spending, with retail spending up in November.

Jobseekers are ready to find a new role, but have their own ideas

A recent report from Employment Hero found that around 40% of Kiwis are actively or passively looking for a new job. But they want flexible work - on-demand hours are a popular choice, which fits a work-life balance approach.

Confusing or vague job ads and bad hiring practices put off applicants, and ads which don’t show salaries are also off-putting, according to the report.

Young people are doing it tough

Reports show that young people looking for entry-level jobs are finding it harder to get work, thanks to increased competition for each job, higher numbers of people with university degrees and the impact of AI.

A recent report from HR company Deel, which surveyed businesses from New Zealand and other countries, found that a third of New Zealand companies were slowing entry-level hiring, with 88% expecting to reduce entry-level recruitment even further in the coming years. Just over half of the organisations reported some entry-level roles being replaced by AI or automation.

Interestingly, globally, 71% of respondents reported increasing difficulty in recruiting and training future leaders due to fewer entry-level learning pathways, which highlights the need to consider the knock-on effects of adopting AI too quickly or too widely.

Young jobseekers have also seen their benefits squeezed this year, with new tests for 18 and 19-year-olds on whether their parents can support them brought in by the government.

These changes may well be reflected in the large numbers of younger people leaving New Zealand for overseas. Latest data from Stats NZ shows just over 72000 people left New Zealand in the September 2025 year, and people aged 18-30 made up nearly 38% of those.

Thoughts from the HRNZ Future Workplaces Forum

Last month, we had the pleasure of attending the HRNZ Future Workplaces Forum and running a stand with our colleagues at Student Job Search and Jobs for Mums. 

We attended to encourage HR professionals to consider specialist job boards as an integral part of their recruitment process. Larger job platforms may produce high volumes of applicants, but they are not always of high quality, leading to extra time spent reviewing applications that will not be progressed. Specialist job boards offer a way for organisations to be far more targeted in their hiring approach.

We also know that many jobseekers, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, are not necessarily using those big job boards. Instead, they are choosing specialist job boards that align with their needs and values.

We had some fantastic conversations with forum attendees throughout the day, and many were excited to receive the packets of wildflower seeds we were handing out. We chose to give out these seeds to encourage people to add something different to their garden, resulting in a more diverse environment. In the same way that adding new job boards to your hiring strategy can help you find wild card hires and result in a more diverse team!