Immigration and Labour
New Zealand has experienced a large number of dairy conversions, including many in nontraditional dairy areas. While the recent recession has resulted in higher unemployment, this has not translated into an abundance of appropriately qualified agricultural workers seeking employment. In fact, the labour market remains tight for many positions in the agricultural industry. This is evidenced by relatively high agricultural wage inflation since 2008, particularly in the dairy sector.
With a shortage of New Zealanders willing or able to work on farms, Federated Farmers has continued to push for increased immigration of skilled farm workers. Current policy is to allow only certain skilled workers onto the skills shortage list, typically on work permits of one or two years.
Unfortunately, most agricultural work does not fall into the skilled categories as they are currently defined, so farmers have experienced difficulty bringing in workers under the general immigration scheme. This again sends the wrong signals and does not accurately reflect the skill requirements of the industry that drives the economy.
Federated Farmers has long tried to persuade immigration officials to include dairy farm workers on the immediate skills shortage list. There has been reluctance to do so to date, with the lowest skilled position on the list being that of Assistant Herd Manager. The Federation wants politicians and officials to understand the extent of the problem of labour shortages and the need for more flexible immigration policies.
Federated Farmers believes that the current standard work permit results in a great amount of uncertainty for both the employer and migrant. There needs to be additional pathways in place to ensure highly skilled, productive migrants currently working in New Zealand's agricultural industry can continue to do so.
Federated Farmers wants
- Government to increase fl exibility in immigration policies which recognise that farming is a skilled occupation
- Government to review the way agricultural positions are currently classified by Immigration NZ, with the intent of making them more refl ective of the skills required in a modern farming environment
- Government to enhance the sector's ability to retain high quality migrants in the agricultural workforce.
Spokesperson
Federated Farmers Immigration and Labour spokesperson is Dairy Chairperson Willy Leferink, you can contact him at wleferink@fedfarm.org.nz.
