Abstract:
This paper reports on a follow-up study to Erlam and Pimentel-Hellier (2016). This subsequent study investigated the extent and profiling of demand for jobs requiring language skills other than English language skills, in the Auckland area, on two online platforms, Seek and Trade Me jobs. Data were collected over a 6 week period from December to February, 2016/17. Results show that approximately 7% (estimated to represent around 1000 jobs) of the employment opportunities investigated asked for skills in a language other than English. The paper presents reasons for why this figure might under-represent actual opportunities. As in Erlam and Pimentel-Hellier (2016), the greatest demand in this follow-up study was for Mandarin/Cantonese and for te reo Māori language skills. The demand for language skills where the language was not specified suggests that employers might value the skill set that accompanies the ability to speak more than one language. For more than half of the positions advertised previous employment experience was the only specified requirement, although around a quarter asked for an undergraduate qualification.
