New Zealand employers advertised more jobs in June than in any month for more than two years, in a fresh sign that hiring is slowly picking up even as households stay under pressure. Job ad volumes were 10.7 percent higher than a year earlier, according to the latest SEEK Employment Report, published on Thursday. That is the strongest annual reading since early 2024 and caps a run of gains stretching back to December that year.
The month on month move was slight, with the number of roles listed edging up 0.2 percent in June, but the direction of travel has been steady. SEEK country manager Rob Clark described the trend as the kind of quiet resilience that, in his words, “isn’t show stopping but matters” to the people trying to find work and the businesses trying to fill roles. The report tracks paid job advertisements on the SEEK platform, which makes it a timely read on demand for staff well before official employment figures land.
The recovery is far from even across the country. On an annual basis the fastest growth came outside the main centres. Taranaki led the way with job ads up 30.4 percent on a year earlier, followed by Southland at 23.3 percent, Canterbury at 21.5 percent and Otago at 20.6 percent. Wellington rose a more modest 11.1 percent. Auckland, the country’s largest labour market, was the clear laggard, with listings up just 5 percent over the year and actually slipping 0.4 percent in the month. The pattern points to a rebound driven by the regions and by the South Island rather than by the big northern city that usually sets the tone.
By industry, construction stood out. Advertised roles in the sector were up 35.1 percent on a year earlier, the fastest annual growth of any group, which fits with a lift in infrastructure and building activity after a long, thin patch for the trades. Mining, resources and energy posted the largest monthly rise at 4 percent, while community services and development was up 2.4 percent and the broad manufacturing, transport and logistics category rose 1.9 percent. Taken together, the strongest demand is coming from the parts of the economy that build things, move things and dig things up, which tends to flow through to wages and regional spending fairly quickly.
For people actually looking for work, the picture is more mixed than the headline suggests. The number of applications per job ad, a rough gauge of how much competition a candidate faces, has eased back from the peak it hit in the middle of 2025 but remains high by historical standards, interest.co.nz reported. In other words, there are more jobs on offer than there were a year ago, but there are also plenty of people chasing each one. That is the frustrating reality behind a recovering market. More listings do not automatically mean an easier search, and many jobseekers are still sending out large numbers of applications for every offer they get.
One corner of the data that keeps drawing attention is artificial intelligence. Job ads mentioning AI were up 107.3 percent on a year earlier, more than doubling, with the sharpest growth in listings referencing agentic AI, generative AI and the newer field of AI ethics and governance. Employers are clearly starting to write these skills into their job descriptions. The catch is scale. Even after that surge, only about 3.5 percent of all advertised roles mention AI at all, so for the overwhelming majority of workers the day to day skills that get you hired have not changed much. The technology is showing up at the margins of the job market rather than reshaping the whole of it, at least for now.
The numbers need some context. Even at a two year high, the volume of job ads remains below the levels seen before the pandemic, so this is a market clawing its way back rather than one running hot. It is also recovering into a squeeze on household budgets. Annual inflation ran at 4.1 percent in the most recent quarter, petrol and diesel prices are climbing again on the back of higher oil, and public sector staff at agencies such as the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment have been in dispute over pay offers that trail the cost of living. A stronger flow of job listings helps, but it does not on its own fix a wage packet that is not keeping up with prices.
Still, the underlying trend is the most encouraging it has been in some time. Eight straight months of growth, broadening demand across regions and industries, and a construction sector that is hiring again all point to an economy that is finding its feet. The Reserve Bank and the government will both be watching closely, because a durable pick up in hiring is one of the clearer signals that the long slowdown of the past couple of years is genuinely turning. For now the message from the data is cautious optimism. The jobs are coming back, unevenly and slowly, and the competition to land them remains stiff.
Have you noticed more roles being advertised in your industry or region, or is it still a tough market where you are? Share your experience in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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