Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash outlines what the Government may change about New Zealand's immigration settings.

The Government wants to turn down the tap on temporary and skilled migrant workers, instead opening the door for high-roller investors and workers who can fill “genuine job shortages”.

Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash outlined the Government’s intended immigration reforms in a sweeping speech on Monday evening that was light on detail. Nash stood in for Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi, who was sick.

“When our borders fully open again, we can’t afford to simply turn on the tap to the previous immigration settings,” Nash said, to an audience of industry leaders and economic experts at the Beehive.

“Covid-19 has starkly highlighted our reliance on migrant labour – particularly temporary migrant labour. The pressure we have seen on housing and infrastructure in recent years means we need to get ahead of population growth.”

New Zealand’s border has largely been shut to non-citizens and -residents since March 2020, when the Government decided to restrict entry to guard against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nash, in the speech and in comments afterwards, made repeated references to migrant-fuelled population growth exceeding the country’s capacity. He said sectors such as tourism and the primary industries would need to look elsewhere for employees in the future.

“We've got to build a level of resilience into our economy in areas that were wholly, or largely reliant on immigrant labour ... Immigration got a way on up to the point where infrastructure couldn't cope.”

The speech caused some disquiet among industry leaders at the event.

Employers and Manufacturers Association head of strategy Alan McDonald asked Nash how fast the Government would move on the changes – a question Nash couldn’t answer – and whether an under-strain Immigration NZ would receive more resources.

Nash said such a question would be answered on Thursday, when the Government announces the Budget.

Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace asked Nash what he meant by “highly skilled”.

He said the aged-care sector relied on skilled migrant workers, primarily from the Philippines and India, and that a shortage of 300 and 500 nurses could not be filled while the country's unemployment rate was at 4 per cent.

"Again the aged-care sector is a classic case. We are reliant on migrant labour in the aged-care sector and, correct me if I'm wrong there, but certainly that's my experience, they do a fantastic job of it there is no doubt.

“But we've got to ask ourselves, why are Kiwis not attracted to those sorts of jobs? Is it because .... the wages are too low? I’m not too sure. But that’s sort of the common theme of the whole speech,” Nash said, to a scoff from someone in the audience.

Wallace afterward told reporters aged-care workers were paid well above minimum wage, and despite efforts to recruit locally there remained a shortage.

In the speech, Nash said a key focus for the Government’s immigration reset would be temporary workers, the working rights of people on partnership visas, and the settings of the skill migrant visa category.

He said the reforms on temporary workers – which include people on the post-study work visa, skilled migrant visa, and essential skills work visa – would “strengthen both the minimum employer requirements and labour market test to be met before a migrant can be hired”.

He said the settings of the skill migrant category would be reviewed, and there would be “more to say on that soon".

Nash did not explain how the Government might adjust the working rights of people on partnership visas.

“There are no plans, at this stage, to change specific purpose, short-term business or visitor visas, the Working Holiday Schemes, nor non-partnership family and humanitarian categories,” he said.

“Let me be clear, there will still be the need for migrant workers where there are no Kiwis to fill jobs. But a lesson we have learnt from the past 15 months is that it’s better to be prepared and resilient to global shocks.

”Sectors which rely on migrant labour, like tourism and the primary industries, will look different in future.”

He said temporary work visa holders made up nearly 5 per cent of the country’s labour force, and “fuelled” the 30 per cent growth in population since the early 1990s.

“We have also seen an increase in demand for residency in New Zealand, with the vast majority of applicants already being onshore. For example, around 80 per cent of applications for the skilled migrant category come from onshore applicants,” he said.

Nash could not provide detail on how the Government might treat the more than 37,000 applications filed by temporary workers in New Zealand who were in a two-year queue for residency.

When the borders closed in 2020 there were more than 300,000 potential applicants for a potential 37,000 residency application spots – a ratio of more than eight to one.

Nash said the Government would create an “Investment Attraction Strategy” to allow 200 people “representing high-value international investment interests” through the shut border in the coming year “to conduct due diligence and transact the sort of deals we know will play an important role in supporting New Zealand economic recovery from Covid-19”.

“We want targeted, high-quality investment that establishes frontier firms, brings skills and technology to New Zealand.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, speaking earlier on Monday, said the Government wanted to ensure migrants who come to New Zealand had a “high quality experience”.

“We need to move a situation where we aren't relying on overseas labour to support our economy," she said.

Source: Stuff, Thomas Manch

OUR COMMENTS

"Business leaders and policymakers alike need to rethink the "low-skill" job title, particularly after the pandemic revealed just how essential those jobs are, says The Atlantic, which argues that the negative connotations of "low-skilled" are perpetuated by our own biases against what is considered a "good job."

The phrase obscures the fact that many workers in jobs that don't pay well may indeed have skills, they could just be so young that they lack training and/or experience.

In addition, "low-skilled" also devalues the work of many and justifies massive wage gaps between professions.

Sourced from LinkedIn"

The so-called "low skilled" migrants kept New Zealand afloat during Covid 19 and still do so, in all areas of work, as critical workers, in the health sector, the care sector, in food production and food distribution, you name it. And this is what they get from a so-called all inclusive government? Shame on you!