The impact of COVID-19 on the New Zealand economy is being felt differently across various sectors and regions, and we have seen the evidence of these effects reflected in our recruiting activity, the news and what we’ve been hearing from our clients.
In this piece, we have broken down each area we recruit in to provide a top-level overview of some of the key events shaping jobs in the near and longer-term.
Construction and Engineering
The measures in place from Alert Level 4 onwards have meant that all non-essential construction projects were halted in NZ, leading to an immediate shrinking in NZ’s $60 billion per year construction sector. The good news is that the outlook for jobs has improved slightly, particularly within larger firms taking on infrastructure projects that are backed by significant government investment. Earlier this year, the government announced an additional $12 billion in infrastructure spending in a bid to restore the historic strength of the sector, bringing the total package to $41 billion to be spent between 2019-2023. The key to the development of this is the green-lighting of “shovel ready” projects which will mean the creation of many jobs. Supporting this is a $1.2 Billion fund for retraining and boosting apprenticeship numbers to assist the issues that a lack of immigration due to border closures will cause in ensuring the skillsets required for the roles are available.
Works and Civil
This area of the economy is set to benefit from a four-year funding package, which will include hundreds of millions of dollars for companies looking to employ apprentices and deliver free trade training. The sector has been newly bolstered by the government’s announcement that all apprenticeships will be free from July 1. In the shorter term, a large number of eligible shovel-ready projects are being subsidised and, where possible, accelerated, so we can expect to see a requirement for workers such as labourers.
Hospitality
Most of us will be aware of the widespread concern for the Hospitality sector that arose after Alert Level 4 came into force on 25 March, with predictions suggesting that up to 35% of bars, restaurants and clubs would need to close indefinitely with the loss of 50-60,000 jobs. While job losses have been significant, we are happy to note that the relative speed of recovery in NZ has allowed businesses to reopen their doors sooner than was expected at the beginning of the outbreak. The move to Alert Level 1 means these businesses can return to operating at something resembling pre-COVID levels with additional safety precautions such as assisting in contact tracing by displaying a QR code.
Manufacturing and Production
During the early part of 2020 when the COVID-19 outbreak was almost entirely affecting China, many NZ manufacturers, once tempted by the reduced costs of foreign production, began to bring their processes home. As companies look to mitigate the risks of being too reliant on global supply chains in future, early indications are suggesting that the road to recovery from COVID-19 will see an increase in the 200,000+ NZ manufacturing workforce. The New Zealand Sock Company is a recent example of this, having recently installed high-tech Italian machinery in its Ashburton facility in an effort to move more of its manufacturing operations from China to NZ and secure local manufacturing jobs. Similarly looking at holistic solutions to staff engagement the Comfort Group who represent Sleepyhead manufacturing are also looking to relocate their operations to a more ruralised location outside of the Auckland metro area to support the engagement of smaller areas for the betterment of the local area and living costs for their staff.
Transport and Logistics
Despite a significant decrease in the number of jobs in transport and logistics immediately following restrictions, we are now seeing the early signs of recovery in this sector. The unprecedented spikes in demand for certain items at the expense of others have resulted in increased levels of activity in certain areas of the employment market, with Logistics job advertising up 150% and Transport up 11.6%. An increase in online ordering has also boosted this area managing the increased distribution requirement for a lot of businesses.
Corporate and Office
With corporate and office roles covering a variety of job types, the impact on this sector has naturally been uneven. Overall, job types such as sales and customer service have fared worst in the traditional corporate sphere, with a 20% reduction in online job advertising activity. However, not all office based roles have seen this decrease, i.e. the Government & Defence sector has seen a near 10% increase in administrative function requirements based on the same metric given above. Some other changes in this space have many businesses examining greater flexibility in working location with work-at-home options now more readily available and some businesses looking to reduce the footprint of their bricks and mortar office environments.
Summary
Despite the difficulties almost all sectors are facing, we can safely say that there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic in both the medium and longer-term, with many opportunities still around and new ones arising out of a changing economy. Contact us today to discuss roles we are currently recruiting for across New Zealand.
