The ANZ Bank reports that the number of job ads in New Zealand fell slightly in June.

Compared with last month, newspaper ads fell by 0.3 percent, while internet ads rose by 0.1 percent.

Compared with last year, newspaper ads were down 5.5 percent and internet ads were up 43.6 percent.

The best regions for job ad growth were Hawke’s Bay - up 18.4 percent on last year, Wellington - up 8.2 percent, and Canterbury - up 7.2 percent.

Two regions had fewer job ads than in June 2004; these were Auckland - down 15.5 percent and Waikato, down 6.7 percent.

Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Richard Heath told the Dominion Post:

“The demand for workers is as basic as head count - we are desperately short of workers. The region has unemployment of about 3 per cent and employers are at the bottom of the barrel.”