The West Coast job market is booming with a surge in listings and many workers taking advantage of a programme to upskill.
Roger Devlin, left, Aaron Williams and Hayden Foote working on the air conditioning on a Lexus Hybrid. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Despite the pandemic, nearly 300 new job vacancies have been filled on the Coast in the past year.
The region is also leading the country with 9.3 percent GDP growth for the year to March, above the national rate of 5.2 percent.
TradeMe listings for jobs between Karamea and Haast were up almost 30 percent in the first three months of this year - the second highest growth rate in the country.
Greymouth woman Teri Gilbertson started her cleaning business Wonder Washer last May. She now has four staff - and a steady stream of work cleaning homes and businesses.
"I was quite scared because when I did start my business, it was in the middle of Covid so it was a rocky boat to start with and I wasn't sure if it would work, but I'm here now so I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing."
Roger Devlin said business has been busier than ever at his auto electrical workshop in Greymouth.
"I'd love to have more tradesmen, we just can't keep up with the amount of work we have, our book is regularly full up to two and a half weeks ahead."
He said other auto-electricians and garages around Greymouth were the same.
"Ever since the pandemic, when we come out of the first lockdown, it just hasn't looked back."
Taking advantage of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Upskill West Coast programme, two of his staff have completed electric vehicle automotive engineering qualifications.
"We're seeing a lot of hybrids that are a bit older and some of them are quite old and they really need the expertise and the training that we've done to understand how they work."
Following their study, Devlin said the team could now competently fix electric vehicles, instead of having to replace parts.
He said without the support of the Upskill project, he would have been hesitant for his staff to do the training due to the time and cost involved.
Upskill project manager Tania Washer said in the last two years the project has worked with over 200 employers and enrolled 1150 candidates.
"Each region across the coast is very different - South Westland, is a high tourism area that has very different needs to Central Grey. So we have a team that works across the whole region from Karamea, right the way down to Haast working very much with businesses on an individual needs basis."
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The project enables up to $20,000 per candidate for training, if they are employed full time.
Since June 2020, nearly 400 people have stepped into new positions, taken on apprenticeships, or retrained into new roles.
But Washer said there was still a skills shortage on the coast.
"With the borders reopening, we have large amount of work to do to try and attract the right people to our region, rather than them going to cities or other regions... also, we're just starting to talk to employers about how they retain their skilled staff well, because once the borders reopen, there's a big lure to go back out to Australia where you can earn more money."
Development West Coast Chief Executive Heath Milne said tourism and hospitality sectors were looking for staff as they prepared for the return of international visitors.
"It's been really tough, particularly in the southern part of the west coast. But those businesses down there are now preparing for the influx, certainly a steady increase in the number of international visitors that will see here and again that's opening up opportunities for workers."
Heath Milne said there was high demand to fill both skilled and unskilled positions across the West Coast.