Driving the economy
Increased diversity in the industry will be critical if we are to become more competitive in the labour market.
Labour market to get tougher R by Nick Leggett Chief Executive Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
ECENT POPULATION DATA RELEASED by Statistics New Zealand should have made all employers in this country stand up and notice, including road transport operators. A couple of headline figures we should all be concerned about are that during the last year New Zealand’s working age population shrank by 0.2 percent, with a massive 3.1 percent reduction in the number of people in their 20s. The number of 20 to 39-year-olds was down 0.7 percent and those aged 25 to 29 dropped a whopping 4 percent. All this was in the year up to March 2022, a year where the borders were mostly closed and there was heightened uncertainty around international travel. Now that borders have reopened all indications are that this brain drain will only get worse. Government officials have even anticipated
that up to 125,000 people could leave the country in the next year and it is unlikely that recent immigration changes will do much to compensate for that. This decline in the working population will have a significant impact on our labour market. Basically, we are looking at a situation where employers will be competing over a much smaller pool of talent, particularly when it comes to younger workers. In such an environment, only the best employers will pick up good keen staff and they will need to do everything they can to ensure they have a workplace that will attract and keep workers. For years our members have told us that they have trucks parked up because they can’t get drivers, which is worrying as we enter what will be an even more difficult period for employers. To help operators, Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting
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