New Zealand advertised salaries on job board Seek rose by 5.0% in the year to the February 2024 quarter.

The 5.0% increase is faster than inflation, Seek noted (latest inflation data showed the figure at 4.7% in the December 2023 quarter). However, the growth rate slowed, from 5.1% in the year to the November 2023 quarter to 5.0% in the year to the February 2024 quarter. 

Meanwhile, the quarterly change from November 2023 to February 2024 stood at 1.0%. The SEEK Advertised Salary Index (ASI) rose by 1.0% in the quarter to February compared to the previous quarter. However, the Seek ASI growth has slowed, from 1.4% in the quarter to August, to 1.1% in the November quarter, to 1.0% in February.

Seek Country Manager, Rob Clark said, “Advertised salaries are growing at a decent pace, outpacing inflation and Australian salaries, helped by some large pay settlements in the public sector. But as the jobs market cools, we’re seeing salaries grow more slowly. Advertised salaries were up 1% in the past quarter, the slowest quarterly rate since late 2022.”  

By region, year-on-year growth to the February quarter was led by Canterbury (6.9%). This was followed by Rest of South (5.4%), Wellington (5.1%), Auckland (4.9%) and Rest of North (4.6%).

The fastest Seek ASI growth was in the Healthcare & Medical industry (11.2% year-on-year), where a pay equity agreement for nurse, and strong demand for workers, contributed to a rapid rise. Of the large industries, many are seeing solid growth in advertised salaries, with the exception being hospitality & tourism, which lagged other industries at 3.1% year-on-year.

Quarterly data saw Canterbury report a 1.4% increase with Auckland also recording an uptick of 1.1%. By industry, healthcare & medical led quarterly growth with 3.0%.