Low unemployment rate brings fresh challenge

Unemployment in South Canterbury continues to show record low figures, bringing labour challenges to the region with it a shorter supply of workers, businesses in the region say.

At a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) consultative meeting hosted by the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce yesterday, a recurring theme was the difficulty finding workers.

The meeting included consultation on proposed changes to employer-assisted temporary work visa settings to ensure visas issued reflect genuine regional skill shortages.

Tracey Gunn, who co-owns tourism business High Country Salmon near Twizel, said only two of her 11 staff were New Zealanders. Where the Mackenzie District was located made it difficult to employ local people, Gunn said.

‘‘It’s not like we don’t want to employ New Zealanders, there are just none to employ,’’ she said. ‘‘We then have to employ migrants, who are fabulous workers but the process is hard.’’

She said her migrant employees had only three-month visas, forcing her to make ‘‘snap judgements’’ on employees. ‘‘We pretty much have to decide in their first week whether we want to keep them . . . So by the time their visa runs out they’ve already got their employeeassisted visas.’’

The region as a whole is struggling to hire people and keep people, she said.

‘‘This is compromising our service because there’s no interview process.’’

Chamber chief executive Wendy Smith said there were many vacancies in Timaru, Waimate and the Mackenzie districts that had to be filled from the outside. ‘‘One of the main restrictions to growth now and over the next couple of years is a shortage of skilled workers. This is an issue impacting the whole of New Zealand,’’ Smith said.

Smith said the chamber had been carrying out significant work in the advocacy space and holding discussions with Workplace Relations, Immigration, and ACC Minister Iain LeesGalloway, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and Immigration New Zealand throughout last year and into this year about the necessity of retaining migrant workforce in South Canterbury.

Aoraki Development’s Di Hay said much work had gone into attracting workers to the region through its We Love Timaru campaign. ‘‘Part of our role as the economic development agency is to help attract and retain a skilled workforce and the We Love Timaru campaign has been our current focus for this.’’

‘One of the main restrictions to growth now and over the next couple of years is a shortage of skilled workers.’ Wendy Smith