NZ Hiring Expectations Up Again

November 1 2009 - The Hudson Report: Hiring Expectations shows a further improvement from last quarter with a shift towards increasing headcount of 6 percentage points to 21.9%. Conversely, employers intending to reduce permanent staff levels showed a decrease from 15.3%t to 11.2% for the quarter. The proportion of employers intending to maintain current employment levels moved from 66.9% from 68.8%.

Marc Burrage, executive general manager at Hudson, said:

"The June quarter of 2009 was the first quarter of positive growth since the end of 2007 so there is a sense that the worst of the downturn is now behind us. Slowly but surely businesses are starting to see signs that they are edging out of the downturn. Having carefully managed their businesses through the recession, employers are now starting to shape their organisation for future growth, but they will be taking these steps gradually."

The unemployment rate in New Zealand rose to 6.0% in the June quarter, a six-year high. The rate was 4.0% when world markets collapsed 12 months ago. 138,000 people were recorded as unemployed nationally.

Hiring expectations by industry:

• IT (+25%)
• Manufacturing (+0.6%)
• Retail (+15.2%)
• Construction/property/engineering (+15.4%), and
• Government (+8.3%)

"While managing costs still remains a top priority, employers are developing new business strategies to take full advantage of market opportunities and ensure they have the right mix of skills to deliver future success. With many organisations operating at full capacity, some employers are considering taking on additional staff, in order to manage the workload and reduce stress on existing staff. This is borne out by the increasing number of employers intending to take on contractors or temporary staff," added Burrage.