Table of Contents
David Seymour
ACT Party Leader
Today’s low unemployment is actually a Labour crisis. The country is missing about 140,000 people based on normal migration trends. That’s why there is help wanted signs and businesses grinding to a halt from Cape Reinga to the Bluff.
Unemployment figures become a moot point when there are so many jobs that need to be filled. With a staggering 71.7 per cent of the working aged population in the labour force, the country is being starved of people. New Zealand’s net migration figures have dropped to the point where the economy simply doesn’t have enough people for our economy to function.
The problem is New Zealand is missing around 140,000 people right now. Pre-COVID, net migration was 60,000 plus people each year, even reaching 80,000 in the year to March 2020. Post-COVID, New Zealand is losing a net 10,000 migrants a year. Instead of gaining around 120,000 migrants in the past two years, New Zealand has lost 20,000.
Migrants, whether they are coming or going, are usually working-aged. The reversal in net migrant numbers is a giant sucking sound for the labour market, and it’s sucking the life out of kiwi business. There is a worker hole of about 140,000 people that won’t be filled until we can attract people to New Zealand again.
Adding insult to injury is the 345,000 working-aged New Zealanders on a benefit. Almost the population of Christchurch is on a benefit with almost 100,000 classified as being ‘work-ready.’ There is no excuse for 100,000 people not working when jobs are everywhere.
I speak to employer after employer who’s interviewed people that just wanted a signature on their form saying they’d tried, so they can go back on a benefit.
The Government needs to see past the current unemployment figures and worry about fixing the labour crisis by bringing in workers instead.
Unfortunately, New Zealand is not the attractive destination it once was. Labour has sunk brand New Zealand because it has failed in its core role of governance. Our health system is in crisis, crime is out of control, literacy and numeracy rates are in freefall, and the housing crisis has not been fixed.
Overseas recruiters have said that there is zero interest to move to New Zealand for all of these reasons. Jacinda Ardern focussed entirely on the stardust and forgot all about the service aspect of government. No matter how well you market the country on overseas talk shows and at global junkets, people still won’t come here if they can’t feel safe on the streets, have reliable access to healthcare, provide a good education for their kids, or find a warm home to live in.
ACT would remove the work to residence divide on the Green List and simplify the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme by abolishing labour market tests, wage rules, and make it easier for migrants to move between accredited employers. This is a short-term way of bringing more people into the country and providing some relief to businesses.
Long-term we need a Government of real change to turn the decline around and make our country the preferred destination for ideas, talent and investment. ACT has laid out how we would do this in our Alternative Budget for Real Change.”
