The employment market in Aotearoa has seen more change in the past ten years than anyone could have predicted. We can probably all agree that it’s been an action-packed decade – though much of the ‘action’ we’d have collectively preferred to avoid! The employment landscape continues to change, and every year here at Madison, we continue to produce our Employment Market Report (EMR), to reflect on and learn from what’s passed, while also forecasting the future.
This year’s milestone tenth edition of the EMR serves as a valuable resource for both employers and job seekers, filled with updated salary benchmarks, emerging trends, and insights across various topics and sectors. The current market has been shaped by volatility, so we hope this comprehensive data offers clarity and reassurance for the year ahead.
Having been with the Madison business for over 18 years, I’m proud to see the EMR continue building on its purpose: to offer New Zealand-specific insight backed by data that helps employers, job seekers, and the wider market make informed decisions about work.
A Job Market That Doesn’t Sit Still
In preparation for writing this blog, I looked back over the nine previous issues of the report. It gave me a strong sense of nostalgia – especially reading a few lines of that inaugural 2016 edition, which began “Fuelled by a stable economy…”.
Needless to say, since that moment, the world has changed significantly. We’ve moved through periods of steady growth, a global pandemic, multiple legislative shifts, political curveballs, and increasingly complex economic conditions. At the same time, ideas about what people want from work have evolved. For example, who was talking about, or offering hybrid work in 2016?
Some of the biggest shifts were triggered suddenly. COVID-19 didn’t just disrupt hiring in 2020, it rewrote the playbook. Office roles adapted overnight, and we all had to become video call experts. Salary freezes were followed by unexpectedly sharp pay demands. Both employers and candidates had to reassess what stability and success looked like. Pay expectations today, in contrast with a few years ago, are shaped by the economy, but also values alignment.
Other changes have taken shape more gradually. Since 2016, business confidence has moved through cycles: strong in the early years, softening in the lead-up to the pandemic, and cautious again as economic headwinds returned. These cycles have influenced everything from recruitment lead times to internal restructuring patterns.
Recognising the rhythm helps us all to plan effectively; whether it’s planning our next career move, navigating restructures, forecasting talent needs, or seeking approval for future hiring budgets.
Through the Employer Lens: What’s Changed
The challenges employers are facing in the current climate didn’t arrive all at once; they’ve built up steadily over the last few years. In the earlier EMRs, the focus was sourcing talent in a tight market and improving speed to hire. By 2018, more emphasis was put on the design of recruitment processes and keeping up with candidate expectations. Then the pandemic accelerated the shift toward flexibility and soft skills.
Since 2022, we’ve seen an increased focus on retention and workforce planning, with hiring becoming more strategic. Savvy employers have been building internal mobility pathways, investing in skills development, and better aligning their Employee Value Propositions (EVPs) with what job seekers actually care about.
At the heart of the EMR is salary data. So, what’s happened to salaries over time? Across most sectors, the trend line reveals a gentle upward incline, but the post-pandemic years saw significant spikes. In particular, contact centres, HR, and mid-level finance roles saw marked increases from 2021 onwards.
Employers are still working hard to offer competitive packages, but there’s increasing pressure to look beyond salary. Flexibility, development, wellbeing support, and progression, are all key elements of a competitive offer in today’s market – and all are reflected in the data in our latest EMR.
From Pain Points to Planning Tools
Despite high unemployment rates, skills shortages remain a real problem for many New Zealand employers. When it’s difficult to find the talent you need, it’s useful to know whether it’s isolated to your sector or part of a broader trend, to help decide on the right action. This may look like reframing a role, investing in learning and development, or adjusting recruitment timelines. Similarly, if your organisation needs to plan for AI impacts, redraw role specifications post-automation, or rethink benefit packages in line with changing job seeker values, real life data offers a grounded starting point.
Direct feedback from clients tells us this is one of the primary ways they use the EMR. The 138 salary data points and qualitative feedback from thousands of job seekers and employers around New Zealand helps empower organisations to plan for both the typical and the unexpected, especially when it comes to sourcing, recruitment, and onboarding.
The Candidate Perspective: A Different Set of Priorities
Job seekers in 2025 are more informed, more selective, and more focused on alignment than they were ten years ago. In the mid-2010s, salary and stability were top of mind, but over time, new themes emerged. By 2018, cultural fit and values alignment were gaining ground. Three years later, wellbeing and flexibility were the focus. Today’s job seeker wish list looks different yet again, and I encourage you to download the report to find out what’s changed (and what hasn’t).
The long-term data across our decade of reports highlights shifts in job seeker preferences. Initially, hybrid work was a unique perk, but it’s now become more of an expectation. Over time, candidates have increasingly prioritised career growth, internal progression pathways, and learning opportunities.
Job seekers now look for more from employers, asking about organisational transparency, leadership styles, performance recognition, and flexibility. Even in today’s economy, we consistently see that top talent chooses roles based on values alignment rather than availability.
This year’s EMR offers insights for job seekers about where there are budding opportunities, potential growth areas, where roles might be influenced by funding and contract cycles, and (of course), valuable salary benchmarking information.
Why Long-Term Insight Matters
This year’s report includes the core elements you’d expect: hiring confidence, candidate sentiment, industry trends, and salary benchmarks across ten sectors and 138 roles. Ten years of reliable data collation with consistent measures means we’re also able to identify cyclical patterns, sector-specific signals and mini-trends, and meaningful changes over time. For example:
- Migration. It’s a consistent part of Aotearoa’s workforce story, but in recent years, the dynamic has changed. More mid-career professionals are heading offshore, and employers are feeling the impact (check out our other recent blog on this topic). The EMR tracks how these shifts are accelerating.
- Workplace flexibility. In our early reports, it barely featured, but by 2023, it was front and centre. The 2025 report reveals the different ways that job seekers now see flexibility, and why it’s an increasingly hot topic amongst employers and our clients.
Of course, we’ve seen disruptions we couldn’t predict, from global pandemics to political turbulence home and abroad, but that’s exactly why a long-term view matters. Historical context provides a solid starting point when the future feels uncertain. We believe the trends are clearer when you look across multiple years, and the EMR data and commentary helps employers and job seekers to forecast with more accuracy, and to avoid those common, short-term noise traps.
Real Insights, Backed by Real People
Behind the hard data is something else: the human layer. The EMR draws on tens-of-thousands of survey responses gathered over the past decade, and real-world insight from job seekers and hiring managers across New Zealand. Looking at this collectively, certain patterns begin to stand out.
Counter-offers, for example, were somewhat effective for a time, but have now consistently underdelivered in retaining staff, even as they remain a common tactic. We’ve seen the rebound effect of restructures, where short-term hiring freezes are followed by critical skill shortages that are harder, and more expensive to fill. We’ve also seen the early effects of technological change, such as AI, surface in sentiment data well before they’re visible in hiring patterns.
These types of signals are often missed in year-on-year analysis but become clearer when combined with input from our Consultants, who see the practical impacts unfold inside teams and hiring processes.
A Tool for Better Decision-Making
If you’re hiring, looking for a new job, or thinking about how to structure your workforce for the year ahead, the 2025 Employment Market Report offers timely insight and grounded perspective. It marks ten years of consistent data collection, and this milestone edition brings added depth to the trends and signals we’re seeing now. The insights are shaped by the voices of employers and candidates across Aotearoa, and the patterns are clearer when you can view them in context.
Download the full report and see where the market might take you next!
If you’d like even more value from the report and to be able apply it with greater impact, our Consultants are available to present the key takeaways (along with exclusive additional long-term insights), tailored to your organisation and sector. These sessions are practical, not promotional, and are designed to help you make more informed decisions, backed by data, and shaped by what’s actually happening in the market. If you’re interested, just drop us a line here, or contact a Consultant directly.
