"It’s very difficult for employers to find the right person, or the right person quickly," Your People Recruitment managing director Warwick McArthur said.
In places such as Central Otago, Wanaka and Queenstown, it had been hard to fill both skilled and unskilled positions, he said.
Accommodation costs were one disincentive.
Pay rates were another matter up for discussion.
In Dunedin, unemployment was down to just 3.3%, in line with the national average.
The Dunedin economy grew 1.3% in the 12 months to September, down on the national rate of 2.6%, Infometrics estimated.
Infometrics attributed Dunedin’s slightly slower growth to the particularly tight labour market in the city — a lack of available staff was affecting the ability of businesses to operate to their full potential.
Dunedin resident employment continued to grow steadily.
The public administration, professional services and health industries each added more than 300 jobs in the year to September, Infometrics reported.
Platinum Recruitment director Andrew Wilson said he was operating in a candidate-short market.
Immigration was also yet to fully rebound since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hays finance section manager Simon Lawrence said there was often a shortage of high-quality candidates to fill vacancies.
Some businesses had cut back on taking on trainees when conditions were tight because of Covid-19 lockdowns, but now there were skill shortages.
Infometrics highlighted consumer spending in Dunedin grew 4.9% in the 12 months to September, lagging national growth of 7% and national consumer price inflation of 7.2%.
"This indicates that households are pulling back on spending to balance their budgets, most likely in discretionary areas such as durable goods and hospitality," Infometrics reported.
Dunedin deputy mayor Sophie Barker said it was concerning the city’s GDP growth was half the national average.
"We’ll certainly be looking forward to an injection from the tourism sector over the summer to spark the economy up."
It appeared conditions would be challenging for the next few years.
"It’s great we have some key infrastructure projects to help the economy over the next few years," Cr Barker said.
A big one for Dunedin is construction of a new hospital.
Cr Barker noted inflation was "rampaging through household budgets".
New Zealand was facing some tough headwinds, both international and domestic, and this was reflected in Dunedin statistics, she said.
