26 Mar 2014

Hiring intentions falling

7:53 am on 26 March 2014

Firms' hiring intentions are not keeping up with the momentum of the rest of the country, with employers cautious to commit to employing new people.

According to Hudson's quarterly hiring expectations survey, the number of businesses intending to bring in new people declined for the second consecutive quarter.

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Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski

The number of employers intending to increase their head count fell 3.5 percentage points to 24.8 percent, while in the South Island it fell more than 10 percentage points to nearly 39 percent of employers.

Hudson executive general manager Roman Rogers says the drop indicates a slower than expected start to hiring this year, which could reflect the lack of speed on the Canterbury rebuild.

He says the findings are at odds with business and consumer confidence surveys.