Occupations in Shortage At a Glance

Published: March 2008

Description

This report presents a summary of key findings from the 2007 Survey of Employers who have Recently Advertised (SERA).  The purpose of this annual survey is to identify which occupations in New Zealand are currently in shortage.  Employers are contacted to establish whether the positions they advertised were filled, and the number and suitability of applicants.  Occupations where less than 80% of vacancies are filled with a suitable candidate are typically regarded as experiencing skill shortages.  The latest report presents a summary of key findings from SERA 2007, and where possible, compares the findings to those from the 2005 and 2006 surveys.

Link to full report

Occupations in Shortage in NZ: 2007 HTML | PDF [48 pages, 276 KB]

Summary

Overall in 2007, widespread skill and labour shortages existed in New Zealand. Only 54% of the advertised vacancies included in SERA 2007 were filled within 10 weeks of advertising, which is a 54% fill rate.

The survey found that shortages existed for each of the nine major occupational groups in 2007. Fill rates for the major occupational groups were:

• Trades workers - 37%
• Service and sales workers - 51%
• Professionals - 54%
• Plant and machine operators and assemblers - 54%
• Technicians and associate professionals - 57%
• Clerks - 57%
• Legislators, administrators, and managers - 61%
• Elementary occupations (such as labourers and freight handlers) - 63%
• Agriculture and fishery workers — 65%

Between 2006 and 2007, skill shortages became worse for clerks, service and sales workers, and trades workers, while the remaining major occupational groups showed little or no change.

Related information

Downloads: data files of fill rates

• SERA 1 digit fill rates [CSV 2KB]
• SERA 2 digit fill rates [CSV 4KB]
• SERA 3 digit fill rates [CSV 8KB]
• SERA 5 digit fill rates [CSV 20KB]

Author or contact details

For further information please contact the Labour Market Skills team