No region in New Zealand has seen a bigger rise in new job opportunities than the Bay of Plenty.

That is according to the latest figures from the SEEK NZ Employment Report, with more jobs than ever before advertised on the site in March.

Regionally, job advertisements are up in the Bay of Plenty 81 per cent on the same time last year. Considering that last March saw the area, as well as the rest of the nation, in a Covid-19 enforced lockdown that significant statistic will not come as a surprise.

However, job advertisements are continuing to grow. In the Bay of Plenty, there was a further 21 per cent rise in jobs advertised in March 2021 compared to February 2021. This is the joint highest amount in the country, alongside the West Coast and Otago. Waikato and Northland are next in line, with an 18 per cent rise.

'March 2021 paints a very different picture to March 2020, when the Covid-19 outbreak made its presence felt on the New Zealand labour market, with jobs ads dropping from mid-March,” says SEEK NZ general manager Janet Faulding. 'We are now a year on, and we're thrilled to see the highest number of jobs ever advertised on seek.

'The massive growth in job ads shows how far we've come as a nation. It's great to see that after 12 months of slow, steady progress, Aotearoa has recovered and even surpassed pre-Covid levels.”

After the problems faced by the public-facing sector 12 months ago due to Covid this employment field is now enjoying something of a boom.

Public-facing sectors experienced the most on month growth in March. Hospitality and tourism shows one of the biggest increases from February 2021 with a 32 per cent increase. The retail and consumer products sector has grown 29 per cent.

'It's incredibly heartening to see the hospitality and tourism sector, as well as retail and consumer products, have such a strong increase in new jobs ads posted to seek.co.nz this month,” says Janet.

”Nearly every industry experienced growth month-on-month.”