Job ads in New Zealand rose 5% month over month in November, an unseasonably large increase, according to data released Thursday by job board operator Seek.

Helping drive growth were job ads in Auckland, New Zealand, which rose 8% in November compared to October.

“As we approach the end of the year, traditionally job ads would peak in October, however most regions have seen a month-on-month increase, notably Auckland as it prepared to emerge from lockdown,” said Rob Clark, country manager, Seek NZ.

Other top regions for growth in job ads were Waikato, where job ads rose 8%, and Northland, where job ads increased 18%.

“We have seen increasingly faster rates of recovery as regions have emerged from restrictions, led by month-on month growth in job ads,” Clark said. “With heavy concentrations of jobs in Auckland, particularly in ‘information and communication technologies’ and customer-facing roles, we can expect further growth to be driven from this region in the coming months.”

Overall, New Zealand job ads were up 35% on a year-over-year basis and up 29% when compared to November 2019.

Seek reported the top three industries in terms of month-over-month growth in job ads were manufacturing, up 16%; hospitality and tourism, up 45%; and retail and consumer products, up 19%.

Despite the growth in job ads, applications per ad dropped 3% month over month in November and were down 36% compared to November 2019.

“For the second month running, applications per job ad declined slightly,” Clark said. “I wouldn’t expect this to change until the new year as this is not a traditional time of year to change jobs.”