The Prime Minister has encouraged young people to look for work in horticulture, saying the sector is "crying out" for labour. From November next year, the Government will means-test 18- and 19-year-olds before they can access a Jobseeker benefit.
Christopher Luxon told RNZ: "If you go outside of Wellington, to Hawke's Bay or go to the South Island... The primary industries, for example, in horticulture and in our growing industries, are crying out for young people to come and join those sectors and those jobs."
Paul Paynter, chief executive of Yummy Fruit Company in Hawke's Bay, which grows apples and stone fruit, said the industry is not short-staffed at present. "We're not crying out for staff at the moment. In a few weeks, we will start taking on a small number of workers for stone fruit thinning, and that'll build through the apple thinning and it'll build through the harvest season. So we will take on people, but they're not permanent year-round jobs. They are seasonal positions."
Paynter explained that the business employs about 350 people now, peaking at around 680 in March. "Spring is busy. We're certainly pretty busy, but we don't have a lot of seasonal jobs. So until we start thinning of stone fruit in a couple of weeks, and then apples at the beginning of December, we won't be employing a lot of seasonal staff," he said.
Michael Franks, chief executive of Seeka, the country's largest kiwifruit grower, said his company is also in a "lull" in the employment cycle. "Right at the moment in the kiwifruit cycle, we're nearing the end of shipping... so the work in our pack houses is slowing down because we've got no fruit left. We are continuing to pack avocados, and we're packing citrus. The volumes in those categories are low, but steady, but there's not a big employment factor."
He added: "There's always work for local labour. We try and employ local labour first, before RSEs and backpackers, but the next time we cycle up for jobs will be next March, so right at the moment there's not much there, it's not a high employment moment in the cycle."
Meanwhile, younger people are questioning the appeal of seasonal work. Seth Smedick, an 18-year-old student in Christchurch, said he had applied for about 100 jobs since January with limited success. "I think what a lot of older people don't understand is that young people want to live where there are good social connections, so like in the cities and towns. The rural jobs like horticulture and agriculture aren't that appealing to a lot of young people."
Source: 1 News
