The Hudson Employment Expectations Report for the three months ended December shows that a net 29.9% of employers are now reporting an intention to increase their permanent staff levels in the coming three months, up 7.5% on September.
However, Otago-Southland Employers Association chief executive, John Scandrett, is warning about reading too much into the results of the report.
"I do feel that a degree of care should be exercised where there is reference to an upswing in employer `hiring intentions' immediately alongside what is referred to as anticipated economic growth.
"Employer hiring intentions may well at this time be strongly based around concerns - or even fear - about potentially losing key staff to reconstruction opportunities in Canterbury, and now also in Queensland," he said.
The Hudson report only included overall South Island figures and could not be broken down to show Otago-Southland hiring intentions.
The survey would have been undertaken before the Australian flooding disaster, and Mr Scandrett believed there must now be expanding employer concerns about skilled workers heading across the Tasman.
"As the situation exists, the average Australian weekly wage is $NZ1641 compared to the $959 average here in New Zealand, and I'm sure that local employers will be refocusing in a very fixed manner on what they need to do to keep key staff."
The recession had already prompted business people to see staff as the central cog in the organisational wheel, and it was not surprising to see the survey come forward with robust hiring intention, Mr Scandrett said.
"We need to keep in mind that the term here is the `intention to hire' and the factors I have referred to will be underpinning the strong statements we are seeing," he said.
Hudson New Zealand general manager Marc Burrage said apart from construction, the general feeling of most other industries was quite flat with most businesses cautious after two years of difficult economic times.
A net 59.4% of employers in the construction and property industry had reported an intention to raise their permanent staff levels in the three months ended March, a survey of 24.1% from before the earthquake said.
"Work has started on fixing and reconstructing residential homes and commercial buildings that were damaged in the earthquake and employers have rushed to take on staff required to undertake the work.
"With all employers either hiring or looking to hire additional staff, employees are starting to have multiple opportunities for the first time in a long time."
Consequently, there had been a surge in movement of employees in the sector, with employers not only having to hire staff to increase their workforce, but also to replace staff lost to competitors, he said.
In planning their requirements, employers had been trying to predict how much work there was out there and there was a sense that the work already begun may be the tip of the iceberg.
Mr Scandrett said it was positive to see the general improvement in tracking trends on regional employer hiring intentions.
Despite significant shifts in some sectors, IT and professional services for example, it was "particularly good" to see what was a strong and reasonably consistent performance in the manufacturing sector.
Other recent survey work focusing on the health of southern manufacturing health would support the Hudson findings, he said.
The information and technology industry was also a key driver of positive sentiment in the South Island, with hiring intentions rising a "considerable" 11.2% from September as the skills shortage became more acute, Mr Burrage said.
A net 37.5% of employers had reported an intention to increase their permanent staff levels during the next three months.
"The skill shortage has never gone away as companies are starting to hire again, the best candidates are getting snapped up very quickly."
After undertaking a hiring spurt to rebuild teams in mid-2010, hiring in the accounting and financial services industry was now flat with a low net 9.1% of employers indicating plans to increase permanent staff levels in the South Island during the next three months, he said.
Significant demand for staff was not likely to return until the economy got a stronger footing, he said.
