Skilled worker demand grows

Skilled vacancies are reaching highs in Otago-Southland and the region is one of seven, out of 10 in New Zealand, showing a shortage of skilled workers. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment figures released yesterday showed online skilled vacancies increased 2.4% in Otago-Southland during August, to give an annual rise of 23%. The next highest region for monthly shortages was Gisborne-Hawkes Bay, with 1.4% to give an annual increase of 10.1%. The closest annual increase for online job vacancies was Waikato on 10.6%. However, New Zealand in general showed a 0.3% fall for total online job vacancies in August and a 6.8% annual increase. The ministry said online advertisements for vacancies fell in two industry groups. Construction and engineering were down 2.3% and sales, retail, marketing and advertising down 0.3%. The largest month-on-month increase was for technicians and trades workers, up 0.8%, and professional workers, up 0.2%. For the year ended August, skilled job vacancies increased in most industry groups. The largest increase was in hospitality and tourism, up 21.6%. The increase in hospitality and tourism was consistent with the upward trend in guest nights for the year to July. The construction and engineering industry showed an increase of 10.7%. The only decrease was in the healthcare and medical industry which fell 8.5%, the ministry said. The tables supplied to the Otago Daily Times showed hotel and motel managers, corporate services managers and construction managers were in demand. Also, in the professional categories, environmental scientists, judicial and other legal professionals, cartographers and surveyors and occupational and environmental health professionals were sought-after. In the technicians and trades category, sheetmetal trades workers, cabinet-makers and glaziers were top of the list. Skilled vacancies in Canterbury grew 9.7% over the year, compared with 6.8% nationally. The increase was driven by increases in vacancies for construction and engineering (up 25.3%) and hospitality and tourism ( 8.9%). The only decrease in skilled vacancies in Canterbury was in accounting, legal and marketing, down 2.6%. ''The monthly changes for skilled vacancies in Canterbury were flat to modest over the last two years. "Despite a levelling out in the demand for skilled vacancies in Canterbury, there is still significant construction required for the Canterbury rebuild,'' the ministry said. Dene Mackenzie 18 Sep 2014 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/316264/skilled-worker-demand-grows