Where New Zealand Graduates Can Still Find Work With Graduate Roles at Just Over 2 Percent of Seek Ads

Advertisements for graduate jobs made up just over 2 percent of the overall share of jobs on Seek in the month before RNZ published the figure, as spring graduation ceremonies were taking place across the country. That small slice is the core of this story for new graduates in New Zealand, from science and teaching to law and information technology. Unemployment in New Zealand is high by historical standards, so graduates are competing with each other and with experienced workers. In a separate monthly index, though, total job ads on Seek were 9.7% higher year on year in August, with most industries growing over the year, most notably mining, manufacturing and community services work. For Metaintro readers, the useful part is the detail underneath the headline share, meaning which sectors and regions added ads, how hard each role is to win, and which structured graduate programmes are listed. Here is what the primary data shows.

What Did Seek Say About Graduate Job Ads?

Graduate advertisements were just over 2 percent of the overall share of jobs on the site in the month covered by a Seek statement in an RNZ story on spring graduates, a month the story does not name. Seek's own August employment release does not break out graduate ads at all, so the share is not a figure you will find in its monthly index, and the two numbers should not be read as the same moment.

By March, graduate job ads on Seek had declined as a share of total job ads in both New Zealand and Australia, with a sharper fall in New Zealand. Seek senior economist Blair Chapman linked the decline since the 2023 peak to looser labour markets and slower economies after the post-Covid recovery.

The New Zealand unemployment rate of 5.4 percent Chapman referred to in March was the highest in more than a decade.

Why Did Graduate Ads Fall Faster in New Zealand Than in Australia?

Chapman put it down to spare capacity, saying the New Zealand labour market has eased much more than the Australian one over the past few years.

The New Zealand labour market has eased much more than the Australian labour market over the past few years leading to a sharper decline in graduate job ads as a share of total, with more spare capacity across the entire labour market, Seek senior economist Blair Chapman said, according to the Newsroom analysis of graduate moves.

Chapman's quick analysis suggests that about 23,000 New Zealanders leave for Australia each year when the two unemployment rates are the same, and an additional 14,000 leave for each percentage point the gap widens.

In March, Shay Peters, chief executive of Robert Walters Australia and New Zealand, said organisations often delay or scale back graduate intakes during periods of uncertainty, that structured graduate programmes have fewer positions and that hiring timelines are extending. Bianca Herbst of Hays said application volumes for graduate roles were on the rise while companies stayed cautious at the tail end of a downturn.

Which Sectors Added Seek Job Ads in August?

Most industries grew over the year to August, most notably Mining, Resources & Energy (46.7%), Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics (28.1%) and Community Services & Development (25.1%).

Demand for mining, resources and energy workers rose in all regions over the year. Across the four job boards the government tracks, ad growth in the year to the June quarter was led by Manufacturing, Construction and Primary industries, with occupation growth led by the Machinery operators and drivers, and the Sales and Labourers groups.

Key seasonal hiring industries drove the August rise, as ads grew 3.4% in Hospitality & Tourism and 3.3% in Retail & Consumer Products month on month, while Advertising, Arts & Media posted the largest monthly jump at 5.1%. Seek NZ country manager Rob Clark said that, with its data seasonally adjusted, the rise in hospitality and retail showed demand over and above what Seek would expect even at a time of year when more businesses hire ahead of a busy summer. Hospitality looks different over a longer window, since online vacancies in Education and Hospitality fell across the four boards over the year to the June quarter.

Construction went the other way, as it was the only sector to fall month on month in August, with Construction, Engineering and Design & Architecture all declining and Trades & Services the only industry within it to grow, by 0.6%.

Where in New Zealand Did Job Ads Grow?

Most regions added ads in August, and Auckland rose 1.0% month on month, its largest rise in over four years, led by a 3.5% spike in Hospitality & Tourism ads and a 2.6% rise in Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics. Auckland was 5.0% higher year on year.

Over the year, Seek job ads grew by double digits in the West Coast (24.5%), Otago (18.8%) and Canterbury (15.5%), with Marlborough up 11.7% and Taranaki also more than 20% higher.

Ads fell in August in Manawatū (-1.2%), Hawke's Bay (-0.5%), Taranaki (-0.3%) and Northland (-0.2%) month on month, while Wellington edged up.

Online job ads across those four boards grew in 9 out of 10 regions over the year to the June quarter, and Auckland recorded its second quarter of annual growth since the September 2022 quarter.

Why Is Each Job Getting Harder to Win?

Applications for each job ad rose 0.9% in July, the sharpest uptick in 18 months, even as the number of opportunities also rose.

New Zealand's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in the June 2026 quarter, up from 5.4 percent in the March quarter. The underutilisation rate reached 13.8 percent, and there were 440,000 underutilised people. Of the people unemployed in the June quarter, 19.0 percent had been unemployed for more than a year, and around 8,000 more people were experiencing long-term unemployment than a year earlier.

By age group, youth saw the largest increase in underutilisation, with the rate for 15 to 24-year-olds having risen from 33.6 percent to 37.0 percent over the year to the June quarter. The underutilisation rate for 25 to 34-year-olds also increased, rising from 9.7 percent to 11.6 percent, driven mainly by underemployment.

Graduates feel this in their inboxes, and one psychology graduate's mother saw her send about 40, 50 applications and get maybe three replies. One Master of Information Technology graduate thinks 20 people on his course of maybe 150 got an internship.

How Is AI Changing the First Rung for Graduates?

References to AI skills appeared in 4.0% of New Zealand job ads in August, with mentions up 93.3% year on year. In Information & Communication Technology, AI skills are mentioned in 17.6% of job ads, ahead of Marketing & Communications at 9.8% and Consulting & Strategy at 9.3%.

Ads for occupations with high-automation exposure fell 0.1% over the year, while medium and low exposure roles grew. Those high-exposure roles include Keyboard Operators, Telemarketers and Human Resources Clerks.

More than half of the New Zealand-based employers in a global International Data Corporation survey of 5,500 organisations, described in April by University of Auckland professor Rod McNaughton, saw AI driving significant job displacement and were slowing or stopping entry-level hiring, and nearly nine in ten expected a slowdown in these roles within three years. More than three-quarters of New Zealand respondents singled out fewer opportunities for on-the-job learning as a major concern.

One new law and arts graduate heard in interviews that employers expect some level of AI usage.

What Does the Government's Jobs Online Data Add?

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment runs a separate series that pools ads from four job boards, Seek, Trade Me Jobs, Education Gazette and Kiwi Health Jobs. Online job ads grew by 7% in the year to the June 2026 quarter, the fourth quarter of annual growth after 11 consecutive quarters of annual falls.

The mix tells graduates where to look. Ads grew in 7 out of 9 industries, led by Manufacturing, Construction and Primary industries, while vacancies in Education and Hospitality fell. By skill level, ads grew for 4 out of 5 skill levels, with the biggest growth at the Unskilled level.

One primary teaching graduate has been looking for a job since April, and she believes schools and hospitals are taking on people with experience instead of new graduates.

The ministry's own caveat is worth keeping in mind. Jobs Online measures an index of online job advertisements, not the number of actual online job advertisements, and some vacancies are not advertised at all.

Which Public Service Graduate Programmes Are Listed?

Public Service agencies run graduate programmes for people with a tertiary qualification, which may provide early exposure to a range of roles, access to staff networks and senior officials, formal training, a supportive development programme with feedback and guidance, a competitive salary and career pathways.

Public Service graduate programmes listed on 27 August 2026 include:

• Tax and compliance. Inland Revenue runs an 18-month rotational Graduate Customer Compliance Specialist programme and a Graduate Policy Advisor programme of 1.5 years.
• Finance. The Department of Internal Affairs runs a cross-agency Public Sector Finance Graduate Programme lasting 3 years for graduates seeking an accounting career.
• Regulation. The Ministry for Regulation lists a two-year Graduate Programme with 4 graduate roles available, aimed at economics, public policy, law, political science and IT or data science graduates.
• Digital. The Government Digital Delivery Agency runs an 18-month cross-agency digital graduate programme with placements at two agencies.
• Primary industries. The Ministry for Primary Industries lists a 12-month Graduate Development Programme for graduates with an interest in the primary industries and degrees in science, agriculture, economics, public policy, political science and international relations, or related fields.
• Policy. The Treasury, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade all list graduate policy programmes.

Six of the internships on the same Public Service Commission page are marked as on pause, the Department of Conservation, Ministry for the Environment and Department of Internal Affairs summer internships and the three Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade internships, Aorere, Horizons Ethnic and Vaka Pasifika, while none of the graduate programmes is marked as paused. Among the internships without a pause note, the Ministry of Social Development's Analytics and Research in Government Internship Programme is a three-month cross-agency placement for anyone with a passion for data, analysis or research.

Why Are Employers Holding Back on Junior Hires?

Employers and Manufacturers Association Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald said after the June quarter figures that many businesses have been focused on retaining the staff they already have rather than taking on new employees, with higher costs, weaker demand and global uncertainty leading some firms to delay investment decisions.

When recruitment slows, young people are often the first to miss out because entry-level jobs become less available, EMA Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald said, according to the EMA hiring statement.

A firm that hires no juniors in 2026 will have no experienced mid-level staff in 2031, B2B News said in an editorial. The deeper problem is whether the labour market still offers young people a way in, Professor Rod McNaughton of the University of Auckland argues.

What This Means for Graduates, and What Should You Do Next?

A share of just over 2 percent shows graduate ads are scarce. Yet total Seek ads were still 9.7% higher year on year in August. Our take is that graduates who search only graduate ads are looking at a small slice of the board, and roles in the industries adding ads are worth a look even outside their field.

That shift carries a trade-off. Mining, logistics and manufacturing roles will not always match the degree on your certificate, and many graduates are picking up jobs completely unrelated to their degrees. Treat such a role as paid experience, and keep applying in your field. One Master of Information Technology graduate secured an internship which resulted in a job offer. For job-search tactics from other markets, see how new graduates can still land a job and how new grads break in without entry roles.

Here is what we would do:

• Widen the search beyond graduate ads. Look at the industries Seek's August release singles out for annual growth, including mining, resources and energy, manufacturing, transport and logistics, and community services.
• Look at the regions as well as the roles. The West Coast, Otago and Canterbury all recorded double-digit annual growth in August, and Auckland had its largest monthly rise in over four years.
• Apply through the listed agency pages. Check each listing on the Public Service Commission graduate page and follow each agency link for how and when to apply.
• Show your AI and data skills plainly. One law graduate was asked in interviews whether she uses AI, and was told the employer expects some level of AI usage.
• Track the next data points. The government's Jobs Online series has a monthly data file and a quarterly release that shows which industries and skill levels are adding ads.

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People Also Asked

Q: What share of Seek job ads in New Zealand are for graduates?

A: Graduate job ads made up just over 2 percent of the overall share of jobs on Seek in the month before a Seek statement was carried in an RNZ story on this spring's graduates. In March, Seek's senior economist traced a decline in that share since a peak in 2023.

Q: Which industries are adding the most Seek job ads in New Zealand?

A: Over the year to August, Seek job ads grew most notably in Mining, Resources & Energy (46.7%), Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics (28.1%) and Community Services & Development (25.1%), while hospitality and retail drove the monthly rise in August.

Q: Are there graduate programmes in the New Zealand Public Service?

A: Yes. Inland Revenue, the Treasury, the Ministry for Regulation and the Ministry for Primary Industries are among the agencies with Public Service graduate programmes, and six of the listed internships are marked as on pause on the page dated 27 August 2026.

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