Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Opinion: Why we need a permanent solution to the growing problem of cheap migrant labour

By Julian Wood
Bay of Plenty Times·
1 Dec, 2020 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Investing in local labour could be a solution to our seasonal worker shortage, writes Julian Wood. Photo / File

Investing in local labour could be a solution to our seasonal worker shortage, writes Julian Wood. Photo / File

In February this year, Maxim Institute called for a shift away from New Zealand's over-reliance on temporary workers towards investing in the long-term and local workforce.

Weeks later, Covid-19 forced New Zealand's hand to close its borders, and labour shortages and exasperated courgette growers have hit the news headlines ever since.

In response, the Government announced last week that it would allow 2000 seasonal workers in over the coming months.

While some will rejoice, we caution against any incremental return to an unsustainable policy of the past.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

An infinite supply of cheap, temporary workers is a double-edged sword — it meets short-term demand but has long-term costs. One major cost is a distortion of price signals in the labour market.

As labour shortages emerged in the early 90s, employers found they couldn't find workers at the price they wanted to pay.

Rather than allowing the market to raise prices and pivot the economy towards smarter solutions, we chose to relieve this wage pressure by opening our doors to temporary workers.

This has allowed our primary sectors to expand at the expense of a potential shift towards higher productivity ways of operating.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Low wages and long but seasonal hours also reinforced to young New Zealanders in the
regions how unattractive these jobs are.

Furthermore, for employers, it also reduced any incentives to train or to turn a job into a career.

Discover more

Bryan Gould: Sport highlights the good, bad and 'nasty'

30 Nov 10:00 PM

Letters to the editor: Tauranga will stagnate

24 Nov 09:00 PM

Kieran Madden: Ardern's disappointing reaction to child poverty pleas

24 Nov 08:00 PM

Samantha Motion: It's not fair to say renters just shouldn't get pets

23 Nov 08:00 PM

Why would they take a young person and invest in them if they can find a fit, hard worker from overseas who will work for whatever they are offered?

As local labour retreated or was undercut, the least well off in the regions become even worse off.

The result was the need for ever more temporary workers, and so began a self-fulfilling, and as we now know, fragile cycle.

So, while the recent move to allow 2000 seasonal workers is good for this year's harvest, it is also good that the Government is lifting seasonal wages to $22.10 an hour and requiring that workers are paid a 30-hour per week salary while in quarantine.

The Government needs to be firm if market signals are to work.

Horticulture NZ chief executive Mike Chapman welcomed the news, but also warned about possible labour shortages for the spring 2021 and harvest 2022 seasons.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Industry needs to reckon with the reality that the market must adjust, and them with it.

In a post-Covid world, if the Government wants to really "build back better", there will
be no return to pre-Covid levels of temporary labour fixes.

The composition of jobs in the economy will change, and many firms will need to change their business model accordingly: rebalancing wages, conditions, and training for the long term.

For employers reliant on temporary cheap overseas labour to be profitable, this might mean making some hard business choices.

We can't return to the past. The border closure provides us with an opportunity to move
towards a new, more sustainable and better future— one where investing in local labour is a permanent fix.

Julian Wood is a senior researcher for Maxim Institute.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Sport

'My moment': NZ-born boxer becomes first Māori to be crowned undisputed world champ

12 Jul 03:58 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Puchner makes history with silver at U23 canoe slalom world titles

12 Jul 03:37 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

12 Jul 02:27 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'My moment': NZ-born boxer becomes first Māori to be crowned undisputed world champ

'My moment': NZ-born boxer becomes first Māori to be crowned undisputed world champ

12 Jul 03:58 AM

In her debut at Madison Square Garden, the 30-year-old produced a 'total beatdown'.

Puchner makes history with silver at U23 canoe slalom world titles

Puchner makes history with silver at U23 canoe slalom world titles

12 Jul 03:37 AM
One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

12 Jul 02:27 AM
Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP