Drug tests catch out jobseekers

Prime Minister Bill English is blaming unemployed Kiwis’ inability to pass a drug test as one of the reasons why overseas workers are needed.

His comments come on the back of record highs for immigration after it was revealed yesterday that 71,300 more migrants had arrived in New Zealand than left in the year to January.

English said two or three business owners a week told him about the difficulty in getting Kiwi workers that apply for jobs to pass a drug test.

He said he’d heard anecdotal evidence of it across most industries.

His comments came on the back of a question about why the 140,000 unemployed people in New Zealand couldn’t fill jobs in areas where there are skills shortages.

‘‘One of the hurdles these days is just passing a drug test.

‘‘Under workplace safety you can’t have people on your premises under the influence of drugs and a lot of our younger people can’t pass that test.’’

English said local employers, such as in Hawke’s Bay where there’s 1000 jobs forecast to come up in the agricultural sector, wanted to employ local people but were ‘‘finding that pretty challenging’’.

Migrant arrivals totalled 128,300 in the January year – a new annual record – and the bulk of migrants arrived on work visas.

About one-fifth of all migrant arrivals were from Australia and almost two-thirds of the migrant arrivals from across the ditch were New Zealand citizens, according to Statistics New Zealand.

‘‘We’ve got a growing economy, we’re investing in infrastructure . . . and we’ve got Kiwis coming home,’’ English said.

‘‘This is what it feels like to be in a growing economy with some confidence and direction.’’

Just this week English said he’d received ‘‘robust complaining’’ from the hospitality industry that they were unable to recruit at a bar and cafe manager level.

‘‘They’re telling me they just can’t get people,’’ he said.

But NZ First leader Winston Peters said taxpayers were being ‘‘bled dry’’ from National’s open door policy on immigration.

‘‘There aren’t enough houses in Auckland for everyone but we had an inflow of 128,000 coming in, and over half will settle in Auckland.

‘‘They’ll need the infrastructure for a city the size of Rotorua to support them – but it’s not being built,’’ he said.

Kiwi workers shouldn’t be ‘‘undermined’’ by migrant workers and have to ‘‘compete with Third World wages and conditions’’, he said.

Labour’s immigration spokesman, Iain Lees-Galloway, blamed migration as one of the ‘‘central drivers of rising house prices’’.

‘‘The people paying the price for National’s inability to plan for immigration include the 2600 vulnerable Kiwi families needing to be housed in motels because there simply isn’t enough state or affordable housing to meet the needs of New Zealand families.

‘‘The largest portion of migrants coming to New Zealand are those given temporary work visas – up 11 per cent in a year.’’