New employment figures revealed: The jobs with the fastest-growing salaries in NZ

Salespeople are being offered the biggest pay rises, new data shows.
Salespeople are being offered the biggest pay rises, new data shows. Photo credit: Getty Images

Salesperson roles now have the fastest-growing salaries in New Zealand, according to new figures from the employment website Seek.

Based on Seek's latest salary data, salespeople were offered the biggest pay rises in the three months to July - up 20.5 percent compared to the previous quarter.

"In an incredibly tight job market like this, we would expect to see advertised salaries boosted to reflect the demand for candidates and our data shows that is true for roles across most industries," Seek NZ country manager Rob Clark said.

Salespeople were being offered an average salary of $77,950 per year.

Coming in second on the fastest-growing salary list were packers in the manufacturing, transport and logistics industry. They were being offered an average salary of $51,853 - up 17.5 percent from the last quarter.

Information technology (ICT) analysts took third place, where average salaries were up 17 percent to $97,228.

"ICT roles were the most represented, with five roles within the top 20 of those with the fastest growing salaries," Clark said. "Infrastructure engineers, specialists and database administrators all experienced double-digit growth q/q with average advertised salaries of $100,000 or more."

New employment figures revealed: The jobs with the fastest-growing salaries in NZ
Photo credit: Seek

Job ads still at high levels 

Meanwhile, the job market shows little signs of slowing with listings up 5 percent in July.

Annual job listing growth was also up by 27.1 percent. 

"With applications per job rising by 11 percent in July and job ads up 5 percent in August, we are seeing the return of some healthy activity to the labour market," said Clark. 

He said ads in hospitality and tourism, for example, had risen by a massive 36 percent month on month.

Adverts in retail and consumer goods also climbed 12 percent in August compared to the month before.

Clark noted all New Zealand regions were experiencing increased activity for job candidates, with less populated areas such as Marlborough and Southland recording "exceptional growth".