NZ employers struggle to fill 50% of vacancies
New Zealand employers struggled to fill about 50% of job vacancies last year, a new survey reveals.
BUSINESSDESK: New Zealand employers struggled to fill about 50% of job vacancies in 2011, with a squeeze on engineers, skilled trade workers and sales representatives.
ManpowerGroup's latest talent shortage survey shows Kiwi employers having difficult filling key positions rose 11 percentage points to 48% last year.
That is well above the global average of 34% and Asia-Pacific's 45%. Japanese employers experienced the most difficulty on 81%, while Chinese employers had a much higher success rate on 23%.
“With fields such as engineering, IT and skilled trades set to boom in the coming years, encouraging local uptake into these industries should be a top focus for policy makers, educators and employers,” managing director of ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand Lincoln Crawley said.
“The Christchurch rebuild is going to put a huge amount of pressure on the local labour market, with the estimated need for workers outstripping the available local talent pool."
Canterbury has outpaced Auckland to gain the top spot in year on year growth, according to the National Bank's regional trends survey for the March quarter.
The region experienced at 4.7% increase in employment for the quarter, while the number of residential building consents rose 34%, according to data from Statistics New Zealand.
The ANZ's regional job advertisements series for the region hit a record high, up 24% in the December quarter.
“Employers who continue to struggle with skills shortages may need to review their job criteria and look for a ‘teachable fit’.
"That is, candidates who meet most criteria but need further training in other areas, or consider 'unbundling' job roles so that highly skilled employees only undertake technical tasks," Mr Crawley said.
Employees with skills in IT, accounting and finance, cooking and communication also remain in high demand, the survey said.
Hannah Lynch
Tue, 29 May 2012
Tue, 29 May 2012
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NZ employers struggle to fill 50% of vacancies
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