Struggle to find staff despite perks, $27 an hour
Charn Tiebtienrat pays his chefs $27 an hour and offers free housing including expenses, but is still having trouble finding people to prepare meals in his restaurant.
His restaurant, Suk Jai Thai in Whangārei, is now closed on Mondays because he does not have the staff. ‘‘One of my chefs had to return to Thailand to take care of her mother last year when her mother fell ill. Then she could not return to NZ because the border was closed,’’ he said.
‘‘Then when there were flights available, she could never compete for a spot in the MIQ and her visa then expired in November last year.’’ He had to submit a new visa application and is waiting for the outcome.
In the meantime, a friend who owns a Thai restaurant in Timaru lent one of his chefs to work at Suk Jai, with the proviso that when he needed him back, he would have to return. ‘‘And he needed him back in mid-March, so since then I had to close every Monday.’’
He said it was impossible to
Suk Jai Thai owner
find a suitably qualified local chef, so Thai restaurants around the country had started poaching from each other. It was not just chefs that were hard to find, though.
It was also hard to find waiting staff. He pays senior staff $24 to $26 an hour, with free meals.
‘‘Previously when the border was open, our waiting staffs consist of our senior local staffs and working holiday visa-holders. But since the border has closed, these people are not available and I have to try finding the locals. Last year when I wanted to find one waiting staff, I had to try nine before I find one competent person.’’
The problem is widespread, with other cafes and restaurants operating reduced hours due to a lack of staff, and some closing their doors entirely.
And it is not just in hospitality. There have been estimates of up to 1000 vacancies for registered nurses in the aged care sector. Even the union representing firefighters said it needed a ‘‘huge’’ increase in numbers..
Job site Seek has just under 2500 listings for hospitality roles, up 39% year-on-year. The 3500 IT roles advertised is up 7%. There are 2641 healthcare and medical roles advertised, up 24%, 3400 manufacturing, transport and logistics jobs, up 19%, 2100 retail roles, up 18%, and 3500 trades positions, up 9%.
Overall, there were 15% more job ads in April than in April 2021.
The number of hospitality jobs advertised is now 71% higher than in April 2019.
Both healthcare and manufacturing, transport and logistics had increases of more than 50% compared to three years ago.
Trade Me reported similar increases, with a 25% lift in hospitality jobs in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time last year, with an average salary of $53,967.
There were 35% more manufacturing and operations jobs on the site, with an average salary of $55.744.
Infometrics economist Brad Olsen said the Seek job ads represented about 1.3% of the current workforce in the under-pressure sectors, based on Inland Revenue’s tax filing data.
For IT, the trades and hospitality, the job ads were closer to 2% of current employment.
‘‘[This shows] the level of growth in employment still demanded, at a time when the workforce is still limited (and in some cases shrinking),’’ he said.
‘‘Depending on how tightly or loosely we define IT, the size of the possible IT workforce needed is sizeable and reinforces the need for New Zealand to develop an even stronger digital workforce pipeline.’’
‘‘Last year when I wanted to find one waiting staff, I had to try nine before I find one competent person.’’
Charn Tiebtienrat