Employers not replacing staff as recession hits while others scramble to find skilled workers

MATCO Civil Contractors owner Matt Paget has 10 to 15 vacancies for all types of jobs to work on  various projects throughout the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Taupo, Napier and Coromandel regions. Photo / Alex Cairns

Job listings in the Bay of Plenty have fallen 15 per cent in a year on the employment site Seek as more employers take don’t replace staff as recessionary pressures begin to bite.

The news comes as companies are sourcing skilled migrants from overseas because they can’t find Kiwis to do the work.

Matco Civil Contractors owner Matt Paget needs 10 to 15 staff due to its “absolutely massive growth” but it had been “pretty tough” getting the right people.

Matco Civil Contractors owner Matt Paget has 10 to 15 vacancies at the moment. Photo / Alex Cairns

He was looking for labourers, machine operators, drainage workers, leading hands and a foreman to work on projects across the region and other parts of the North Island.

Paget said the company provided in-house training and pathways towards qualifications and licences.

“We are looking for grassroots people that want to do the mahi and get into something. I’m really passionate about bringing on young guys.

“We employ people with a good attitude and pay them well but we don’t employ people that have got poor attitudes and don’t want to see our company succeed.”

The infrastructure industry was growing at a fast rate and Paget said: “It never really stops for us”.

Higgins north area manager Damon Norden said the company had about 30 roles available in the Bay of Plenty, from project managers and operational leaders to skilled machine operators and traffic management crew.

“With the current construction skills shortage in NZ, recruiting is a challenge but we’re making good headway. One of the ways we’re overcoming shortages nationally is by encouraging more young people and women to enter the roading and infrastructure industry.”

Winstone Wallboard programme lead Stewart Vaughan said the business had employed 80 people to work in its state-of-the-art Tauranga plasterboard manufacturing and distribution plant at Tauriko.

Main commissioning had started and its product range would be available online from late May, while a separate processing plant on the same site, which manufactures the Gib plaster compounds range, was scheduled to be commissioned in late September or early October.

New Zealand Health Group chief operating officer Veronica Manion said it had about 46 roles available in the Bay of Plenty for community and residential support workers, group staff and registered clinical staff including nurses.

It was New Zealand’s largest provider of in-home care and support and focused on increasing recruitment levels, upskilling its existing workforce and sourcing alternative care solutions.

But Manion said it was a struggle to keep staff due to pay disparity with government health authorities and it had tried to boost numbers by hiring migrants from overseas.

Seek data shows job listings in the Bay of Plenty dropped 15 per cent in the year to March 2023 - the biggest drop behind Southland (19 per cent), Gisborne (17 per cent) and Northland (15 per cent).

Despite the downturn, a Seek spokesperson said about 1000 jobs on its site were offering relocation or compensation for moving to regional or non-metro areas, while there were $5000 sign-on bonuses for diesel technicians in the Bay of Plenty and aged-care nurses were being offered $6000.

One Staff area manager Nathan Lewis said the company recently launched OneStaff International and had become an accredited employer because some employers were only interested in workers who had the right skills and experience.

Finding staff for engineering, construction, manufacturing and logistics roles locally had been difficult.

“We have been sourcing skilled workers from the Philippines. This has been very successful so far and we now have skilled Filipino workers across these sectors in the Bay of Plenty region.”

The hardest vacancies to fill were skilled trade positions including diesel mechanics, painters, steel fixers and carpenters, while process and production jobs that didn’t require any previous experience had the most applicants.

In past periods of economic headwinds, Lewis said there was an increase in temporary and casual contracts compared to permanent contracts because companies did not want to commit if there was a recession looming.

Ryan and Alexander Recruitment Agency executive consultant Natalie Milne.

Ryan and Alexander Recruitment Agency executive consultant Natalie Milne said it had seen a slight slowdown in vacancies compared to the same time last year. However, some sectors were still thriving and jobs advertised included local government, horticulture, manufacturing, finance and engineering roles.

She said some sectors were more exposed to a recession than others.

“Overall we are not seeing large-scale redundancies, however, we are aware that some companies are choosing not to replace leavers. Staffing levels remain challenging in many sectors, with skills shortages still creating problems for employers.”

There was a more conservative approach to changing jobs, with more self-employed people and consultants looking for permanent roles.

“There is a general sense of people wanting job security going into potentially more difficult economic times.”

Personnel Resources consultant Lynn Hanson said it was extremely busy, with plenty of roles on the go in its Rotorua, Tauranga and Whakatāne offices.

Administration roles attracted the most applicants and “we find that these are coming from out of town, with Aucklanders wanting to relocate for a lifestyle change as well as international applicants”.

Working from home, flexible working arrangements, wellness benefits and gym memberships alongside life and medical insurance were some incentives employers were offering.

Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said it was still hard to find skilled workers, notwithstanding the recessionary environment.

“That said, there are retailers who are looking to reduce opening hours, shifts available or overall employee numbers. This reflects the increased costs of wages and is an attempt to keep costs down in a high-inflationary environment where consumers are reprioritising or reducing their spending.

“There’s no doubt we are in a recessionary environment. In the long run, this will mean reduced consumer spending and mean that retailers need to trim costs further in order to survive.”

Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said 80 per cent of its March member survey respondents revealed they were not fully staffed.

“The reality is that you can’t recruit if the workforce is not there or are not applying for the roles. This is having a huge impact on our industry both in terms of the mental and physical health of business owners as well as the experience we are able to offer diners.”

Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said there were varying forecasts about future recessions but there would definitely be a downturn as the Reserve Bank sought to squash high inflation through increasing interest rates.

“Unfortunately this is a blunt tool, and we’ll see good parts of the economy and livelihoods affected in the drive to bring inflation back to a lower range. Our region has strong underlying growth which means we’re coming into this off a good base, strong commercial construction and infrastructure sectors would be good examples of areas that will continue to create value in the economy.”

Executive RotoruaNZ chief executive Andrew Wilson said it was optimistic the continuing return of international tourism through 2023 would offset the forecast recession and Rotorua was likely to fare better than other regions.

The latest Stats NZ data showed the official unemployment rate rose to 3.4 per cent in the December quarter, up from 3.3 per cent in the September quarter.

Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan told RNZ in February the economic consultancy viewed the economy as in recession and this would inevitably result in higher unemployment, touching 5 per cent next year.