New poll also reveals concerns about job security amid ongoing job losses
Households across New Zealand remain pessimistic about job opportunities as expectations for available roles dip close to levels logged during the pandemic.
The Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index hit 89.9 points in the September quarter, up by 1.1 points.
Despite this increase, the survey underscored that points below 100 indicate that households are more pessimistic than optimistic about their employment outlook.
"It's still a tough market for job seekers," said Satish Ranchhod, Senior Economist at Westpac, in the report.
"Around two-thirds of those we spoke to told us that it's hard to get a job. That's a further deterioration from our last survey in June, with perceptions about job availability at their weakest since the 2020 COVID lockdown."
New Zealanders aren't optimistic that things will improve quickly either, according to Ranchhod.
"Despite nudging higher this quarter, most New Zealanders still expect that job opportunities will remain limited over the year ahead," he said.
Aligning with employment indicators
The survey noted that the dim outlook among households aligns with employment levels declining by 0.9% over the past year.
"This measure has tended to be a good leading indicator of the unemployment rate, and reinforces our expectations that the unemployment rate will push higher to around 5.3% through the latter part of the year," Ranchhod said.
The results also come despite SEEK NZ data showing that hiring activity picked up in August, increasing by one per cent month-on-month.
"While job advertisements have started to turn higher, for now they remain very low," the senior economist added.
Concerns about job security
Meanwhile, job security remains a key concern among employees amid ongoing job losses across the country, according to the poll.
Nearly a quarter (24%) of its respondents said their job would become less secure over the coming year, much higher than the 20% who are expecting a more secure job.
Job insecurity is also more pronounced among female employees, and workers under the age of 30 and those over 50, according to the poll.
"Workers in all of these groups are often involved in parts of the jobs market that are highly cyclical, like the retail and hospitality sectors where there are also a large number of temporary and part-time positions," Ranchhod said.
"And with tough trading conditions in recent months, those are parts of the economy that have seen sizeable job losses."
