In May, the Infrastructure Commission forecast a workforce shortfall of 118,500 by 2024. Photo: Photo / 123RF
Bringing in more offshore labour to fill workforce gaps in construction won't depress wages because the roles require people with highly sought-after and valuable skills, according to an industry representative.
The government on Monday added numerous construction roles to the work to residence tier of its immigration Green List, including supervisors, gasfitters, drain layers and crane operators.
While they won't be eligible for instant residency like nurses and midwives will be, from March 2023 they will be able to apply after two years, counting any time on a work visa back to 29 September 2021.
Civil Contractors NZ chief executive Alan Pollard told Midday Report the organisation was "delighted with the outcome". Civil Contractors NZ represents more than 700 member businesses and organisations in the construction industry.
"It's a serious labour shortage - not just for our industry as you know, but right across other industries as well.
"Our challenge is the government has a fairly ambitious infrastructure investment programme in capital and maintenance, and we have to have people capable of delivering on those, so it's been a real challenge keeping up with the programme to date."
"There is just ultimately not enough people." - Alan Pollard, chief executive of Civil Contractors NZ
Pollard said he met with Michael Wood a couple of weeks ago to relay the industry's concerns and priorities, and is "really delighted" how quickly the immigration minister moved. In contrast, the government has come under fire for a perceived lack of movement on similar workforce shortages in the healthcare sector.
In May, the Infrastructure Commission - a Crown entity - forecast a workforce shortfall of 118,500 by 2024.
"This government's got a record infrastructure build underway in every single area, whether it's transport, housing, the rest of it," Wood told Morning Report earlier on Tuesday.
"Many of the key workers you'll see coming in are the people who will build the infrastructure that we need and have got those skills."
The labour shortage has helped boost wages (albeit behind inflation), but Pollard doesn't think welcoming more workers from overseas will hold that back.
"Wages are based on the skillsets of the people concerned. So the minister is very clear… that we're talking about a skilled workforce. They'll have particular skills relevant to the role they're coming in for, and we need to pay for those skills accordingly."
"This government's got a record infrastructure build underway in every single area" - Immigration Minister Michael Wood
Wood earlier said the government wanted to shift immigration from "high volumes of often quote low-skilled and very low-wage labour to a policy which is more targeted on accessing the skills we need to build New Zealand".
While acknowledging the government's ongoing investment in apprenticeships and other initiatives, Pollard said offshore labour was still needed.
"The reality is we're a small population with a very low unemployment rate. To be fair, our education system is probably not producing candidates with the right work-ready skillsets… so there is just ultimately not enough people.
"Going forward in the future, our labour needs to be resolved by domestic workforce, by migration and actually by the use of emerging technologies as well."