Key Insights on NZ’s Employment Market June 2025 Edition

We’ve officially made it to June, and what a ride it’s been.
At Indus, we’ve enjoyed diving deep into the real story behind the headlines and helping you make sense of the shifting employment landscape. To kick off this month’s edition, we’ve pulled together the key themes that have shaped the first half of 2025.
Economic stabilization but not recovery yet. A range of factors have been working behind the scenes to steady New Zealand’s economy. Encouraging signs have emerged from the financial sector, where interest rate cuts, particularly across mortgage and loan products, are aimed at supporting household spending and business activity. Just this past week, both ANZ and ASB made further cuts to fixed mortgage rates, with ASB logging its seventh drop this year and 18-month rates now as low as 4.89 percent. While some economists suggest there’s still room for rates to fall, the general consensus is that we’re nearing the floor. We’ve moved out of crisis mode and into a period of fine-tuning.
Job availability remains tight but signs of improvement are emerging. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know how challenging the job market has been. We’ve seen reduced job ads, fewer placements, and a notable decline in migrant work uptake. As mentioned in last month’s blog, many Kiwis are looking overseas for better opportunities, with over 72,000 leaving New Zealand in 2024 alone.
As of May, the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 5.1 percent, and job competition is still high. But with lower interest rates gradually feeding into the system, there’s hope we’ll see renewed hiring momentum as businesses regain confidence heading into the second half of the year.

In our last blog, we touched on New Zealand’s immigration challenges. Now, the latest data shows just how serious the situation has become. The March 2025 Jobs Online report from MBIE confirms a sustained cooling in the employment market. Online job advertisements dropped 21.7 percent year on year, following a steeper 27.2 percent decline in the December quarter. This marks the tenth consecutive quarterly drop.
Losses were widespread across all regions and skill levels, but several core industries were hit especially hard. Construction and infrastructure saw a dramatic 31.1 percent decrease, manufacturing and operations fell 25.3 percent, and transport, logistics and warehousing declined 24.3 percent compared to the same period last year. Even traditionally resilient sectors like hospitality and tourism saw job ads fall by 17.6 percent.
With opportunities shrinking in areas that once offered steady work, it’s no surprise that more blue-collar workers are casting their eyes overseas, particularly to Australia, where demand remains far more robust.

When you look at the numbers, it’s easy to see why more New Zealanders are exploring warehouse roles across the Tasman. According to Indeed Australia, the average hourly rate for a warehouse worker is $31.88 AUD, which translates to approximately $34.43 NZD per hour. That equates to over $71,000 NZD per year, a figure rarely seen for equivalent roles in New Zealand. Entry-level warehouse jobs average $61,801 AUD (about $66,745 NZD), while experienced workers earn $64,539 AUD (roughly $69,702 NZD).
This wage gap becomes even more striking in specific roles like forklift operation. In Australia, forklift drivers earn an average of $33.55 AUD per hour, around $36.24 NZD. In New Zealand, the same role averages just $25.79 NZD per hour. That’s a 40 percent difference in hourly pay for essentially the same work. And while rent remains lower in New Zealand, overall consumer prices in Australia are 3.6 percent cheaper, and local purchasing power is nearly 28 percent higher. For workers in warehousing and logistics, the math is hard to ignore: higher pay, stronger buying power, and more stable demand are pulling Kiwi talent offshore.

For more visual stats on other roles click here