Job advertisements in New Zealand were down 0.8% month-over-month in July, for a third consecutive month, driven by falling job ads in Auckland, Wellington, and Waikato, employment marketplace Seek said Wednesday.
In Auckland, job ads dropped 0.9% month-over-month, led by declines in sales, manufacturing, transport and logistics, as well as trades and services industries. In Wellington, government and defense, accounting and healthcare, and medical drove the 1.3% monthly fall.
The firm said job postings that reference artificial intelligence (AI) skills almost doubled annually, at 94.1%, and increased 2.8% month-over-month. Job ads referencing AI ethics and governance saw a 368.8% jump on an annual basis, while those referencing agentic AI rose 118.6% and generative AI were up 77%.
A total of 3.7% of total job ads make reference to AI or AI skills, commonly referenced in information and communication technology roles, marketing and communications, as well as consulting and strategy roles
Applications per job ad remain high, rising for a second month, up 1.6%.
Four industries recorded monthly growth in July; mining, resources and energy, education and training, engineering, as well as real estate and property. Mining, resources and energy recorded the strongest sustained growth of all industries over the past year, up 38.5% year-over-year.