Andrew Hughes and Olivia Wix's nationwide tour of the job market continues in Greymouth.
Greymouth has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, sitting at just 3.9 per cent, well below the national average of 7.9 per cent. Coal mining, fisheries and tourism make up the city's economy, with all three growing by the day.
Another astonishing fact we discovered was how much
these people earn. We came to the area expecting that the locals would probably be on a lower than normal income.
But we were surprised when we heard that the average coal miner earns around $80,000 a year, and on a good day, during hoki season, a fisherman can earn $1000 a day.
We walked into the Endurance Fishing dock and were met with the most down-to-earth, friendly, helpful people you can get. The skipper, Barry, and one of his crew, Karle, had just come back from work at the sea for the past week, but had a chat to us and showed us around the trawler, and how it all works.
It's strange because you see these big ships all the time, but it's a completely different world when you're on them. The decks are as you'd expect, and the smell is overpowering, but these cabins were flash and the living quarters more spacious than we imagined.
We learnt that the fishing industry is one of the biggest employers of youth in the city, as young people make up the majority of the local fishing industry's work force.
The skipper said this is because you need to be young, fit and able to meet the physical demands of the job, and for people with a family the extensive stints away from home can be difficult to deal with.
But it's also an industry you can quickly work your way up in.
Clearly the shifts could be considered the downside of the job. Skippers work two weeks on, two weeks off so essentially only work six months of the year. Other crew work a six-day-weeks.
In the normal fishing season boats go out to sea for six days at a time and bring back on average 40 tonnes of fish. But in peak season this all changes. Hoki season (September to November) is the hardest work for the fishermen but also the big money maker. They return from sea every day, and can make up to a $1000 daily.
The big issue in fishing is that they're paid on what they catch. This means if they go through a quiet few weeks, they'll get paid very little, but of course they can earn the big bucks in the busy seasons.
One skipper told us the fishing industry is appealing for a lot of locals because you can work outside and because of the block shift work (having a week off at a time), but he says you've got to have the right work ethic and personality.
He says that if new employees come on to the boat lazy, or unwilling to work 14 hour days when needed, then they won't last long, because the other crew will have a go at them pretty quickly.
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Tourism
The tourism industry wasn't an aspect we focused on much in Greymouth, mainly because of our extensive Queenstown coverage but it's clearly a growing industry.
The train from Christchurch brings in hundreds of tourists in daily, most of whom stopover on their way to the glaciers.
Improved transport links are being worked on so that Greymouth can quickly become another eco-tourism area in NZ. The town has a selection of motels and backpackers, delis, cafes and restaurants, and an aquatic centre with waterslides has just been opened.
Our next stop was the Speights Ale House to have a beer with the mayor Tony Kokshoorn. He told us about how the area is growing by the year, and that a new mine is starting up in a couple of months, which will bring even more jobs to the area.
We decided to hit the town and find out more. But the mayor looked at us a bit strangely when we said we would be walking and catching taxis to our interviews. So he offered us a car to use, and we soon realised why. The mines are, at the least, about a ten minute drive away.
Mining
We had initially jacked up a day in a mine in nearby Reefton, but it was cancelled on us at the last minute. We went out to a Solid Energy mine, Spring Creek, in the hope of finding out how a mine works.
The site has a public walking track running alongside the road, which runs past the mine where we managed to get a glimpse of the operation. There wasn't much action, just a digger, and trucks loading up the coal, but very few people.
Most of the 140 miners employed at Spring Creek have been on strike for the past two weeks, which is costing Solid Energy millions a week.
After coming across a few cars along the path, we decided to approach the office to organise an appointment, but it wasn't meant to be.
The mine's site manager saw us walking down the drive, and quickly escorted us off the property, and then followed us back into town, to make sure we didn't come back.
What makes this noteworthy is that we were on a public track, there were no signs saying 'no entry' and on meeting we clearly stated our organisation and our names.
He quickly responded saying "you still can't just wander down here, it's not that we are doing anything wrong or secretive though, you just can't".
His reason? The road is dangerous and he doesn't want us to get run over. It is nice to know we had one thing in common. We were a bit dumbfounded, we expected we may not be allowed onto the site because of OSH regulations, but we weren't expecting to be told to leave the property.
While we spent only a day in Greymouth, two things will stick in our minds.
On the job front: if you're a young guy who's willing to put in a hard day's work, then Greymouth might just be the place for you.
The other aspect was the down-to-earth people in the city. Everyone was so friendly and willing to give us tips on where to go and who to talk to.
And when you think about it, where else in New Zealand would the mayor lend a car to a couple of journalists to use? A pretty great place, we think.
