Industry pushback compels government to back down on immigration
The Government has finally backed down from the initially proposed changes in the immigration policy as proposed earlier this year in April, relaxing remuneration bands separating low and mid-skilled workers after consultation with businesses.
According to the latest announcement made on Thursday, July 27, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse has confirmed changes to temporary work visa conditions.
The remuneration band for mid-skilled workers seeking temporary visa (Essential Skill Work Visa) will be 85 per cent of the New Zealand median income, which is currently $41,538 a year, instead of $48,859 as earlier proposed during the consultation.
“The Government is committed to striking the right balance between ensuring New Zealanders are at the front of the queue for jobs and making sure our regions have access to temporary migrant labour necessary for sustained economic growth,” Mr Woodhouse said.
“We are also committed to ensuring that lower-skilled migrants are clear about their future prospects in New Zealand, which is why we consulted on a number of changes to temporary work visa conditions,” Mr Woodhouse said.
The changes consulted on included introducing remuneration bands to help determine skill levels; a maximum duration of three years for lower-skilled visa holders, after which a minimum stand down period will apply before they are eligible for another lower-skilled visa; and requirements for partners and children of lower-skilled visa holders to meet visa conditions in their own right.
There has been much pushback from the industry, especially those from the regions far away from Auckland who feared that Auckland issues were dominating policy affecting their ability to hire skilled work force to keep their businesses going.
There were 170 submissions made to the government after the government has released the first draft of changes in immigration policy for wider public consultation.
The Indian Weekender has been speaking with many such industry associations and their representatives on concerns around drastic reduction in the number of migrant workers.
Katie Milne, National President of Federated Farmers of New Zealand, expressed concern about the "gap in our workforce that migrant workers fill."
"It is a huge issue that farmers have to face. NZ Inc’s productivity will be affected if there are not enough people available in the labour pool.
"The seasons stop for no man, and when harvest comes, or cows start to calve, there need to be people available to do the work required. Obviously, they need to be skilled as well or be able to get trained here for our conditions to fill those vacancies if Kiwis don't want to change vocations and take up the work. It is as simple as that." Ms Milne said.
Similarly, Simon Wallace, Chief Executive Officer, New Zealand Aged Care Association, which has made an active submission to Immigration New Zealand (INZ) in May outlining their industry’s concerns against the government’s proposed changes in immigration policy.
“The Government is proposing to introduce measures that will limit the time for these temporary work visas to only three years when the visa holders will be required to leave the country. This will compromise the business continuity and have an impact on the quality of care for our elderly residents.
"The sector has estimated that we will need extra 1,000 caregivers each year between now and 2026 to cater for an ageing population and in our case an increase in rest home residents from 38,000 to 52,000. While our rest homes do everything they can to employ local New Zealanders, we cannot meet all our labour needs from Kiwis alone. We have to employ migrants," Mr Wallace said.
According to ANZ’s Business Micro Scope survey released on Wednesday, July 26, about 23 per cent of small businesses had rated “shortage of skilled employees” as their biggest problem holding them back in an otherwise good looking last quarter.
However, not everyone was equally appeased with the newly introduced relaxation in immigration policy. Federated Farmers were quick to register their disapproval of these relaxations.
“The changes restrict the vast majority of migrant dairy farm workers to a maximum of three consecutive one-year visas (maximum three years) before an enforced stand-down where they must leave NZ for 12 months.
"Given the depth of labour shortages in rural areas this will only force out migrants who have been invested in, trained and integrated into the farm and community, to be replaced by another migrant who is new to New Zealand,” Federated Farmers immigration spokesperson Chris Lewis said.
The Government has finally backed down from the initially proposed changes in the immigration policy as proposed earlier this year in April, relaxing remuneration bands separating low and mid-skilled workers after consultation with businesses.
According to the latest announcement made on Thursday,...
The Government has finally backed down from the initially proposed changes in the immigration policy as proposed earlier this year in April, relaxing remuneration bands separating low and mid-skilled workers after consultation with businesses.
According to the latest announcement made on Thursday, July 27, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse has confirmed changes to temporary work visa conditions.
The remuneration band for mid-skilled workers seeking temporary visa (Essential Skill Work Visa) will be 85 per cent of the New Zealand median income, which is currently $41,538 a year, instead of $48,859 as earlier proposed during the consultation.
“The Government is committed to striking the right balance between ensuring New Zealanders are at the front of the queue for jobs and making sure our regions have access to temporary migrant labour necessary for sustained economic growth,” Mr Woodhouse said.
“We are also committed to ensuring that lower-skilled migrants are clear about their future prospects in New Zealand, which is why we consulted on a number of changes to temporary work visa conditions,” Mr Woodhouse said.
The changes consulted on included introducing remuneration bands to help determine skill levels; a maximum duration of three years for lower-skilled visa holders, after which a minimum stand down period will apply before they are eligible for another lower-skilled visa; and requirements for partners and children of lower-skilled visa holders to meet visa conditions in their own right.
There has been much pushback from the industry, especially those from the regions far away from Auckland who feared that Auckland issues were dominating policy affecting their ability to hire skilled work force to keep their businesses going.
There were 170 submissions made to the government after the government has released the first draft of changes in immigration policy for wider public consultation.
The Indian Weekender has been speaking with many such industry associations and their representatives on concerns around drastic reduction in the number of migrant workers.
Katie Milne, National President of Federated Farmers of New Zealand, expressed concern about the "gap in our workforce that migrant workers fill."
"It is a huge issue that farmers have to face. NZ Inc’s productivity will be affected if there are not enough people available in the labour pool.
"The seasons stop for no man, and when harvest comes, or cows start to calve, there need to be people available to do the work required. Obviously, they need to be skilled as well or be able to get trained here for our conditions to fill those vacancies if Kiwis don't want to change vocations and take up the work. It is as simple as that." Ms Milne said.
Similarly, Simon Wallace, Chief Executive Officer, New Zealand Aged Care Association, which has made an active submission to Immigration New Zealand (INZ) in May outlining their industry’s concerns against the government’s proposed changes in immigration policy.
“The Government is proposing to introduce measures that will limit the time for these temporary work visas to only three years when the visa holders will be required to leave the country. This will compromise the business continuity and have an impact on the quality of care for our elderly residents.
"The sector has estimated that we will need extra 1,000 caregivers each year between now and 2026 to cater for an ageing population and in our case an increase in rest home residents from 38,000 to 52,000. While our rest homes do everything they can to employ local New Zealanders, we cannot meet all our labour needs from Kiwis alone. We have to employ migrants," Mr Wallace said.
According to ANZ’s Business Micro Scope survey released on Wednesday, July 26, about 23 per cent of small businesses had rated “shortage of skilled employees” as their biggest problem holding them back in an otherwise good looking last quarter.
However, not everyone was equally appeased with the newly introduced relaxation in immigration policy. Federated Farmers were quick to register their disapproval of these relaxations.
“The changes restrict the vast majority of migrant dairy farm workers to a maximum of three consecutive one-year visas (maximum three years) before an enforced stand-down where they must leave NZ for 12 months.
"Given the depth of labour shortages in rural areas this will only force out migrants who have been invested in, trained and integrated into the farm and community, to be replaced by another migrant who is new to New Zealand,” Federated Farmers immigration spokesperson Chris Lewis said.
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