Skills shortage one of biggest economic risks region faces

Thursday, 10 December 2020

For the first time in her career, there are no jobseekers knocking at her door, says Workbridge employment consultant Suz Peek.

For the first time in her nine-year career Workbridge employment consultant Suz Peek says there aren't enough jobseekers to fill the gap.

Her clients, which included some of the region's largest agricultural, horticultural and processing companies, are struggling to find skilled workers, Peek said.

“It’s the first time there hasn't been jobseekers knocking on our doors. There's some out there, but not massive amounts that there used to be.”

Containers loaded with apples wait to be shipped from Port Nelson in this file pic. If a quarter of the region’s fruit are not picked due to not enough workers it would translate to a $125 million loss.

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Nelson Regional Development Agency chief executive Mark Rawson said the skills shortage was one of the biggest economic risks facing the region.

For example, if just 75 per cent of the region's fruit was harvested, this would translate to a $125 million loss, Rawson said.

“The time it will take to retrain or build these skills won’t be solved in the short term. Which leaves us with a short-term level of pressure and some skills shortages, especially in the seasonal primary sectors and some hospitality.”

NRDA insights showed that businesses that let workers go earlier in the year due to Covid were now trying to rehire them as domestic demand increased.

Some highly skilled occupations including chefs and horticulturalists, were hard to fill, especially in more remote areas like Murchison and Takaka, the insights showed.

Nelson’s Kernohan Engineering innovation and business development general manager Paul Miller said the company was in “a constant state of recruitment, looking for qualified and skilled engineers”.

This was having an effect on growth of the company, he said.

Cable Bay Adventure Park owner Richard Ussher is hopeful immigration will extend working visas again to allow small businesses to stay afloat.

“We’re not able to pursue more opportunities because we’re struggling to fill the roles, particularly as we go into the busy shut-down season over Christmas when a lot of plant maintenance is done.”

Many engineering companies were feeling the pinch, evident by signs advertising for fabricators and welders.

But there were long-term solutions to resolving the lack of skilled workers for Kernohan Engineering, Miller said.

It was interested in working with NMIT and it was looking at the use of new equipment and tools that could improve productivity.

The government’s Targeted Training and Apprenticeship Fund (TTAF) to get people into vocational training, has seen numbers nearly double going into apprenticeships and training.

Talley’s is also struggling to fill roles on fishing vessels, and says some people aren’t motivated to do the work.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins told Stuff that since all apprenticeships were made free in July, “close to 14,000 new apprentices have started an apprenticeship nationwide, up from about 7,500 in the same period in 2019”.

Cable Bay Adventure Park owner Richard Ussher said the business had needed hospitality staff and guides for some time but there were two issues.

Some people who were applying had work visa’s expiring soon.

“Then a lot of the applicants just don’t have the skills in the areas we require.”

The park was ticking over but there wasn’t “the staffing capacity to be running white-hot all the time”.

Ussher hoped the Government could continue to support businesses in whatever way they could.

“We’ve got one guy on working holiday visa that expires reasonably soon. We’d be hopeful that immigration is giving extensions to people that are here.”

Goleman Group Nelson specialise in working at heights, including painting and window cleaning, and is also struggling to fill roles, a key account manager Paul Searle said.

While he understood why the Government giving the horticultural sector help recruiting was necessary, “it would be nice if there was some flexibility” when it came to other industries.

Talley’s recruitment manager Courtney Smith said the need for employees had increased over the last six months. However, she had struggled to fill roles on the ships, despite employees not needing to be highly skilled due to the company’s pre-employment course, she said.

Vessel training manager Tiffany McGill said it wasn’t so much a skills shortage but a lack of motivated people.

“A lot of people are applying [for the jobs] but there’s not real intent to do the job.”