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An Overview: The Construction Talent Market in New Zealand

​Assemble are specialist recruiters for the Property, Infrastructure and Construction industry and over the next few weeks will be releasing a series of articles to assist job seekers living offshore to move to New Zealand. The series will cover ‘The Talent Market in New Zealand’, ‘Crucial info to know before you move’ and ‘A Typical day as a Kiwi’. These articles are intended to provide useful information and insights to assist you to move to kiwi soil.

The New Zealand construction industry is in the midst of one of the most extreme talent shortages on record. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission is forecasting a shortfall of approximately 118,500 construction workers by 2024. If you are living outside of New Zealand and are considering a move here, or you are a returning kiwi, the time is now with current opportunities in the sector at an all-time high and New Zealand borders almost fully open again to the world.

The New Zealand construction sector is desperately short of labour. With significant Government investment in infrastructure; energy and utilities; and residential construction projects, an offshore workforce is critical to ease the labour shortage. With shortfalls spread broadly across the trades, there are specific areas of significant shortage including quantity surveyors, estimators and other construction management roles. 

There is close to 1,500 vacancies listed on New Zealand’s largest job board right now, not only is there an opportunity to advance your career but also your remuneration package. Assemble released a Salary Guide in April 2022 which gives a comprehensive overview of remuneration levels you can expect in the construction industry.

New Zealand businesses have a genuine appetite to hire overseas talent and are invested in assisting talent to land on NZ shores in the form of relocation assistance and accommodation allowances. The employers we are working with are developing comprehensive retention and attraction plans to ensure the long-term stability of their teams. It’s a positive shift in the employer/employee relationship that is having wide reaching impact on job satisfaction and career development.

Tune in to the Assemble page for more insights from our team or contact one of our specialist recruiters to discuss your move to New Zealand.