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New Zealand – Canterbury labour demand rising

24 April 2014

The demand for labour in the county of Canterbury is growing at a greater rate than the national average while labour supply is limited, according to the Canterbury Job-Matching Report for the December 2013 quarter released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE), reports voxy.co.nz.

Canterbury, located on New Zealand’s southern island, is home to the country’s second largest city Christchurch, which was struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in February 2011, killing 185 people.

MBIE Labour Market and Business Performance Manager David Paterson commented that there was a strong demand for labour in Canterbury in the last quarter of 2013. This is shown by the growth in the number of online job vacancies and the consistent demand for services offered by the Canterbury Skills and Employment Hub.

"The online vacancy growth is largely driven by opportunities in construction and engineering, which reflects the pick-up in the Canterbury rebuild," he added.

There is evidence, however, that the supply of labour becoming restricted. The unemployment rate for Canterbury was 3.4%, the lowest since the September 2008 quarter.

Migration into Canterbury is increasing to compensate for the shortages in the domestic labour market. There were 586 work visa arrivals for the rebuild in the December 2013 quarter, up from 562 in the September quarter.

The growing labour demand and limited supply resulted in increasing labour costs, but not at a rate that would offset increases in living costs over the same period.

"We expect that labour prices are likely to increase at a greater rate over the next year due to high living costs and additional labour demand," added Mr Paterson.