Job advertisements rose strongly in March and have more than made up for those lost in January, the ANZ Job Ads report, released yesterday, says.
ANZ senior economist Sharon Zollner said job advertisements lifted 2.9% in March, building on a 1.2% rise in February, suggesting the January weakness was transitory.
Total job advertising was up 1.7% on a year ago, having come close last month to going negative for the first time in six years.
Internet job advertising lifted 2.8%, seasonally adjusted in March, and newspaper job advertising rose 4.4%, while continuing a downward trend.
The series includes advertisements carried by the ODT, which were up 3.6% annually at the end of March.
However, it was not all good news.
Although newspaper job advertising rose 4.4% in March, it was down 22.6% year-on-year.
"Job ads data for the first three months of 2016 suggests a degree of caution may have crept in on the part of employers, but they are certainly not shutting up shop,'' Ms Zollner said.
In what were striking regional divergences, the "up north down south'' pattern persisted, she said.
Job ads in Auckland continued to rise strong, Wellington job ads were holding their own and Canterbury's job ads continued to slip. Canterbury advertisements were 15.3% lower than a year ago.
