According to Statistics NZ’s latest data, Waikato has an unemployment rate of 4.8%, Manawatu is 4.5%, Canterbury is 4.3% and Southland is 3.3%. Nationwide, it is 4.9%.
Federated Farmers employment spokesperson Chris Lewis says the primary sector was also competing in an increasingly tight labour market.
“In rural towns, it’s even tougher. The problem we have got is that all of the good, hardworking Kiwis in the areas where the supply of jobs are, have already got jobs,” Lewis said.
He says the industry had also been monitoring the job placements on job sites such as FarmSource, TradeMe and Seek over the past 12 months.
In a normal year, there are typically around 300-400 farm jobs advertised weekly. Last year there were 800-1000.
“That number has not shifted,” he said.
Farm assistant and herd manager jobs are the most sought-after among these jobs.
“If you have good staff on-farm, please do not let them go. Retention is going to be key to getting through the next 12 months,” he said.
He says giving employees some praise, rewarding them with more money in the back pocket and improving their living conditions could all help keep them on staff.
“Retention of good staff in their business is going to be their cheapest option,” he said.
While the buoyant dairy market will help, on-farm costs have jumped this season.
DairyNZ and Federated Farmers are undertaking a survey to gain a better understanding of the labour issues facing farmers this coming season
Lewis says the research from the survey should also help the industry if it is to make a case to the Government to bring in more workers.
When answering the survey farmers needed to think about issues they may face this winter and whether they have enough quality staff to get through calving.
He says the industry wanted quality, competent people for the industry, that would not hurt the industry’s image and had a genuine interest in farming.
“You cannot hire just anyone to come and milk cows, because there’s too much at risk,” he said, adding the limited success of DairyNZ’s Go Dairy campaign showed how hard it is to get people attracted to the industry.
That campaign was shelved late last year and after initially planning to relaunch it in March, DairyNZ hopes to relaunch it in April or May.
Taratahi’s one to two week-long Agriculture Taster courses has had more success.
UCOL acting chief executive Dr Linda Sissons says since the MPI-funded courses had been up and running from July last year, 75% of the 151 students who had enrolled had gone on to employment or further study in the agricultural field.
“That 75% stat, I think that’s fabulous,” Sissons said.
She says since January of this year, 32 people had signed up for the courses.
While that and other schemes, including Federated Farmers’ Get Kiwis on Farms campaign was helping out, Lewis says the reality was that the industry needed thousands of people.
Of the 300 people who signed up for Get Kiwis on Farms over six months last year and obtained employment, 35% came from the MSD, 33% were students and the rest were from other industries.
Of them, 35% were female, 80% were aged 40 or younger and had an average hourly rate of $21.60-$21.80.
Lewis says Government-funded training organisations needed to be “firing on all cylinders”.
It was a massive influence on people coming into the industry and needed to do more to attract people to the industry to get people skilled up and work-ready. At the same time, farmers need to work as hard as they can to retain their staff.
“The two should be working side by side,” he said.
