And compared to October-December 2009, employer hiring sentiment is up 26.4 percentage points, demonstrating the difference in sentiment between now and the recession-affected, candidate-rich market of two years ago.

The Hudson survey indicates employer sentiment about hiring expectations by measuring the "net effect", a figure arrived at by taking the percentage of employers surveyed that expect to increase staff levels during the coming three months and subtracting the percentage who plan to decrease headcount.

The survey, carried out in September, polled 1,089 employers across 16 industry segments, including IT and telecommunications.

The survey's summary of key findings notes: "Information technology is the second most confident industry nationally, with employer sentiment up 2.1 percentage points over the [July to September] quarter to 51.4 percent, from 49.3 percent, and up 2.7 percentage points year-on-year."

The report notes: "The uplift is driven by the Government's $1.5 billion investment in the rollout of the ultra-fast broadband network over the next ten years" and "moves by New Zealand businesses to continue investing in upgrading their technology platforms is driving demand for skilled business analysts and testers in the sector."