Employment

The ANZ Job Ads series is suggesting the New Zealand labour market remains fairly strong and it is a question of when, not if, this flows into an acceleration in wage growth.

More engagement with teenagers is needed to curb Dunedin having one of the largest rates of youth unemployment in New Zealand, Base manager Mary-Ann McKibben says.

Otago has one of the country's lowest unemployment rates with the South Island well ahead of the north when it comes to lowering the number of people unemployed.

Reactions were wide and varied to the latest labour and wages data released yesterday, showing New Zealand showed strong employment growth in December, along with subdued wage growth.

New Zealand's annual unemployment rate rose to 6.4% in June but Statistics New Zealand figures showed employment also rose in the year by 0.4%.

The economic downturn is still making life difficult for students looking for summer holiday work and more than twice as many are on student hardship benefits than four years ago.

Pssst buddy, want a job? Dozens of Dunedin jobseekers have signed up to rebuild the civil infrastructure of earthquake-damaged Christchurch, with hundreds more wanted.

Changes being proposed to the part of the Employment Relations Act regarding so-called vulnerable workers are likely to be condemned across the widest possible political spectrum.

A tight 10-day period of turmoil in both New Zealand and international markets is the likely culprit for a reported fall in employment confidence, Otago-Southland Employers Association chief executive John Scandrett says.

The Government is disbanding six programmes aimed at getting people into work and replacing them with one scheme offering up to $21,000 a year in wage subsidies for at-risk youth, or up to $7000 for employers to get a new worker the training required for a job.

Two new guides to help migrant dairy workers and their employers work together more successfully have been launched.