Demand for heavy labour is already outstripping supply, writes Janine Ogier
KEY POINTS:
While most people work hard for their money, there are some who really do hard physical graft in exchange for their wages.
The job vacancies for hard manual labour are only going to increase in coming years, so there are plenty of opportunities for people who aren't afraid to do physically demanding work.
Some of this heavy labouring work is well rewarded, but being paid for each drop of sweat expended only suits those who have energy and fitness.
Census statistics show hard labouring jobs can still be lucrative, but there are fewer people now employed in the traditionally physically demanding primary industries of forestry and fishing.
Good pay for heavy labour still attracts employees, but the jobs are more likely to be in dairy farming, heavy transport and building.
For instance, in the 1996 census 1587 people were paid employees, employers or self-employed as loggers, but this had dropped 9 per cent in the 2006 census, according to Statistics New Zealand.
The reduction in employees in the fishing industry is more stark over the same timeframe.
Paid employees, employers and self-employed working as a fishing skipper or crew decreased 24 per cent over the 10 years.
The number of shearers has been fairly consistent, but the nature of employment has changed, with more paid employees in 2006 and fewer employers and self-employed shearers.
Reflecting the conversion of land to dairying and away from other farming, the number of people filling in the Census questions as a paid dairy farm worker rose 2853 from 1996 to 2006, up 44 per cent.
Builders' labourers increased 41 per cent, while heavy truck or tanker drivers rose 23 per cent.
In terms of income, workers in some of the occupations have scored large wage rises so the climb in numbers may be connected to the financial package when heavy labouring is rewarded on payday.
For example, the extra 4860 heavy truck or tanker drivers in 2006 have excellent potential to earn $50,000-$70,000 a year.
In the 1996 Census, 4 per cent of these workers were in the $50,000-$70,000 income range, but by 2006 it had risen to 18 per cent. A further 22 per cent of the drivers were earning $40,000-$50,000 compared with 10 per cent of drivers taking home that amount in 1996.
The numbers in dairy work is up but the pay is more moderate.
About 28 per cent of dairy farm workers earned $30,000-$40,000 in 2006, up from 11 per cent in this range 10 years earlier.
About 12 per cent earned $40,000-$50,000 (up from 3 per cent in 1996), while 8 per cent were in the $50,000-$70,000 range (1 per cent).
Building labourers have improved their salaries too, with 25 per cent earning $30,000-$40,000 in 2006, up from 7 per cent in 1996.
Also, 12 per cent earn $40,000-$50,000, up from 2 per cent in 1996, while 9 per cent earn $50,000-$70,000, up from 1 per cent.
Shearers' incomes jumped in the 10 years too, with more workers recorded in the higher income ranges in 2006 than in 1996.
About 12 per cent of shearers were in the $50,000-$70,000 bracket in 2006, up from 3 per cent in 1996, while 14 per cent earned $40,000-$50,000 and a further 25 per cent took home $30,000-$40,000. In 1996 most earned less than $30,000.
Salaries over $40,000 were still common in the fishing industry, with the 2006 Census showing 14 per cent of workers in the $40,000-$50,000 range and 17 per cent in the $50,000-$70,000 range - up from 10 per cent for both for the 1996 survey.
Fishing remains the highest paid of the occupations considered for this article - 8 per cent of fishing skippers and crew are in the $70,000-$100,000 range, the largest proportion for this income spread. It was the highest in 1996 too, with 6 per cent then in that range.
The Census figures show that hard physical work can be well-paid, but not necessarily in every job. There's more chance of earning $50,000-$70,000 in the heavy transport and fishing businesses than other traditional labouring work.
Demand for people who are prepared to do the heavy labour jobs is already outstripping supply, and with an ageing population, more tradespeople retiring, and fewer apprentices, the situation is not going to get better any time soon.
"We are going to experience some serious shortages in the semiskilled labourers and also in the skilled trades area," says Catherine Lo-Giacco, Manpower's general manager for New Zealand.
Semi-skilled labourers may be being paid well in comparison with a job on a factory production line, but not in comparison with working somewhere overseas with their skill set, she says. "We need to find ways to keep our labour engaged in the New Zealand market.
"That is a challenge for us in New Zealand," Lo-Giacco says.
It is a global problem.
In the results of its global talent-shortage survey, Manpower ranked labourers as the sixth most difficult job to fill in the world in 2007 and 2008. Skilled manual workers, primarily carpenters, joiners and electricians are the most difficult to hire, and drivers rank eighth.
New Zealand's figures are similar, with skilled manual workers being second most difficult to hire and labourers ranking sixth.
Manpower's global research also reveals labourers are the No 1 job being filled by foreign talent in Belgium, Canada, France, Japan, Singapore, Spain and Britain.
Labourers rank within the top-10 list for jobs being filled by foreign talent in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United States.
"People are not being attracted to these types of roles any more, they don't aspire to them," Lo-Giacco says.
Perceptions have changed.
"Every child wants to be a media design expert and game board developer. They are not aiming to be an apprentice or to work on a farm.
"Everyone wants their child to go to university now. Our measures of success as a culture are changing and we have got huge numbers of people retiring from these [semiskilled] roles and who are becoming less physically able to do those roles and there are less people to replace them," Lo-Giacco says.
So there are fantastic prospects for people willing to get stuck in and sweat it out at work.
