New Zealanders are the most pessimistic about the
job market in more than two years as companies trim back their plans to
hire workers.
The Westpac-McDermott Miller Confidence Index fell
4.6 points to 99.6 in the December quarter, indicating the number of
pessimists outnumber optimists. It is the lowest level since June 2009.
Current employment conditions dipped 0.5 points to 83.8, while employment expectations sank 7.5 points to 110.1.
"Employment
confidence has fallen to its lowest level since mid-2009 when the
economy was emerging from recession," Westpac chief economist Dominick
Stephens says.
"This is another sign that the storm clouds hanging
over the global economy have started to affect New Zealanders' economic
confidence."
The report comes after the National Bank Business
Outlook survey last month showed employers continued to reduce their
hiring intentions for the coming year, while government data showed the
unemployment unexpectedly ticked up to 6.6 per cent in the September
quarter.
The Westpac report said the fall in the headline number
was almost entirely due to the increased pessimism about current
employment conditions, and 9 per cent of 1,567 survey respondents expect
job prospects will get worse during the coming year.
"A sense of greater vulnerability is emerging among lower and middle income households," the report said.
A
net 15 per cent of lower income respondents think their jobs will be
less secure in a year's time, up from 3 per cent in the September
quarter, while just 9 per cent expect to earn more, down from 31 per
cent.
Richard Miller, managing director of McDermott Miller, said
public sector employees were more pessimistic than their private sector
peers.
NZN