Measuring Job Vacancies in New Zealand Through Jobs Online

Abstract

The Department of Labour released a new online job vacancy monitoring series – Jobs Online – in December 2009. This series reports the change in the number of advertisements listed on key job boards: SEEK and Trade Me Jobs. Jobs Online serves as an early indicator of changing labour market and economic conditions.

This paper provides an overview of how job vacancy data was collected in New Zealand and overseas. It outlines how the Department of Labour changed its collection of job vacancy data from the Job Vacancy Monitoring Programme (JVMP) – a manual count of newspaper advertisements – to Jobs Online – an electronic analysis of on­line advertisements on major job boards. The results from Jobs Online are discussed and compared with other labour market indicators.

Overall, the results from Jobs Online show an increase in job vacancies over time in total vacancies and in skilled vacancies. This is in line with employment growth in New Zealand after the recession that started in June 2009. Since October 2010 the growth in job vacancies is easing, but remains positive. The data on skilled vacancies is broken down by region, occupation and industry.

The data from Jobs Online tracks well with other labour market indicators such as the unemployment rate. According to economic theory, the Beveridge curve shows the relationship between the vacancy rate and the unemployment rate over time. The Department’s empirical analysis of the Beveridge curve confirmed that a high vacancy rate calculated from Jobs Online was associated with a low unemployment rate. In addition, a low vacancy rate calculated from Jobs Online was associated with a high unemployment rate.