An upswing in online managerial job advertisements over the past six months is one of the first pieces of data produced from a new programme specifically designed to measure changes in the online labour market.

With more and more jobseekers heading online to find their next career move, Jobs Online looks at the number of skilled vacancies advertised on the main internet job boards, tracking the number of job ads at an occupational, regional and industry level.

Internet advertising is now the number one method for notifying jobseekers of job vacancies and this shift over the past decade has seen Jobs Online replace the previous Job Vacancy Monitoring programme that measured newspaper job advertisements in 25 metro and regional newspapers.

Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett said the new system would allow the government to see with greater accuracy where demand is for certain jobs, what sectors and regions are experiencing a growth in vacancies and where there are skills shortages.

“It’s important because it also allows agencies to address those shortages, and the number of vacancies is one of the many indicators used to assess the economy’s health.”

The first report from Jobs Online showed that the number of ads for skilled jobs increased by 1.5%. between August and November, with an upswing in managerial job ads since May.

However, the index for November 2009 was 31% lower than November 2008, indicating an overall softening of the job market.

The results from Jobs Online are presented as an index, which measures the change in the number of job ads rather than the absolute number of vacancies.

The November report can be found online here.