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Employers are desperate to fill 8,000 summer jobs in Otago, finding it nearly impossible to attract Kiwi candidates.
The horticulture, viticulture and tourism industries are especially in need of staff, putting $ 50 million worth of crops at risk if they remain unharvested and unharvested.
A “Jobbortunity” event in Queenstown last weekend drew just 274 people. Most were migrants, and about a third of them were New Zealanders.
Central Otago’s neighboring orchards and vineyards are in dire need of pickers, particularly with the return of Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers from uncertain overseas.
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Employers held an information session in Wānaka to hire ski workers, but out of a potential group of 300, only 20 people attended. Four have signed up for jobs so far.
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The lack of fruit pickers could cost the industry billions of dollars, experts warn.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult participated in the Jobbortunity event and said he found it “strange” that so few showed up given the large number of unemployed people.
Almost 500 people are receiving a Jobseeker-Work Ready benefit in the region, compared to almost zero before Covid-19. All received alerts that Jobbortunity was detained.
Migrant workers are believed to account for more than half of Queenstown’s hospitality workers. But many vacation visa holders have returned home, and there are difficulties in renewing employer-sponsored visas.
Queenstown Chamber of Commerce Acting General Manager Craig Douglas said a quick survey found that more than 40 companies were recruiting new staff for the summer and about half of them were having a hard time finding someone.
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Queenstown businesses are struggling to find new workers to meet the expected demand during the summer.
He wasn’t sure why New Zealanders weren’t applying, as the salary was above minimum wage and the cost of rents in Queenstown had dropped since Covid-19 arrived in the country.
In Queenstown, the median weekly rent was $ 550 in July, $ 210 less than the previous year. At Central Otago it was $ 435.
“Either they’re not here or their job skills or expectations are very different from the available roles,” Douglas said.
For many migrant workers, the odd hours and seasonal nature of tourist work were part of their social experience in the city, he said.
The organization plans to pressure the new government to take a more relaxed approach to visa renewals and approvals.
However, Andrew Craig, acting immigration policy manager at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Employment said more New Zealanders were expected to be available to fill the vacancies “if the industry makes jobs more attractive.”
Employers could still obtain Essential Skills visas to continue working, if they met eligibility criteria, including being paid at or above the median salary, and there were no New Zealanders available to do the job, he said.
Jo McKenzie-McLean / Stuff
James Dicey, owner of Grape Vision Ltd, a vineyard development, management, brokerage and consulting company based in Cromwell, Central Otago.
Hilton Queenstown General Manager Chris Ehmann recently announced two night manager positions and received 70 applications, none from New Zealanders.
“The concern that most hotels and businesses have is that when business increases in January, visas will expire at the same time.”
Low wage rates were often cited as an obstacle to attracting New Zealanders, but the company always paid above minimum wage and paid more in Queenstown than anywhere else in New Zealand, he said.
Not many jobs reached the threshold of $ 25.50 per hour required by Immigration NZ to grant longer visas.
“That would have a massive impact on our costs,” Ehmann said.
Misha’s Vineyard owner Andy Wilkinson suspected that the labor-intensive work was one of the reasons for the lack of interest in the harvest.
Most of the responses were from backpackers with work visas trapped in the country.
“I think the premise that we have a lot of unemployed New Zealanders looking for work is not proving correct.”
Jo McKenzie-McLean / Stuff
Misha’s Vineyard owner Andy Wilkinson says his overseas workers have more experience than local applicants.
Grape Vision owner James Dicey said he would have to use three times as many kiwis to match the productivity of his 40 Ni-Vanuatu workers.
“They are highly trained, highly trained and very experienced. My oldest worker has been with me for 16 years. I’m going to have to replace the 40 workers with 120 backpackers and kiwis ”.
MBIE’s Andrew Craig said no decisions had been made on allowing CSR workers to return. About 6,500 are still in New Zealand from the 2019/2020 season.
“These workers can choose to stay and re-enter the CSR scheme. Other policy changes have also allowed many other temporary visa holders to stay and work in the horticulture and viticulture sector, ”he said.
Dicey said employers were trying to entice staff with options like subsidized rent, free transportation or offering bonuses.
While unskilled workers started at minimum wage, there were opportunities to earn up to $ 30 an hour.
About $ 50 million in crops across the region were at risk, he said, and the reputation of the country.
“Quality and quantity are important. You can still do all the jobs, but it may not be of the same quality because you may not have done all the steps.”
Jo McKenzie-McLean / Stuff
Debz Stewart and Rachel Moore, women from Cromwell, have started working in the Central Otago vineyards for Grape Vision.
Rachel Moore, Cromwell’s mother of two, started working with Grape Vision this week because she was drawn to the flexible work hours.
“They have offered me mom hours [9am to 3pm], which is amazing. It takes me out of the house and I get to meet all these amazing people from across the show.
Across New Zealand, the horticultural industry says it is short of about 10,000 seasonal workers, putting $ 9.5 billion of the country’s economy at risk.
Aotearoa tourism industry executive director Chris Roberts said the shortage of tourism workers was a national problem.
Before Covid-19, around 400,000 people were directly and indirectly employed in the industry, representing 14.4 percent of New Zealand’s workforce.
“Forecasts for job losses in tourism in the short term range from 40,000 to 92,000, but those roles will have to be resumed as tourism recovers.”
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Chris Roberts, Aotearoa’s executive director of tourism industry, says that tourism roles lost during the Covid-19 pandemic will need to be filled again when the industry recovers.
The Go with Tourism website has been helping displaced tourism workers find new jobs.
Matt Stenhouse, director of the program, said employers need to figure out how to make jobs more attractive. Pay rates and accommodation were big issues.
Although some employers paid a living wage, it may not be attractive enough to move to Queenstown.
“[People say] ‘I can also stay in Auckland on $ 19.80 an hour, because at least I can afford it, I can share a house with people and I know it’s not a … box.’
– Additional reporting by Amanda Cropp
