CONSTRUCTION
October 2021 - January 2022
Strict immigration policies detrimental to construction sector New Zealand’s construction industry is riding a massive rebound in business confidence, but this may be undermined by skill shortages, with 90% of construction firms struggling to recruit, finds Civil Contractors New Zealand
F
indings from the 2021 Construction Industry Survey, a partnership between Teletrac Navman and Civil Contractors New Zealand (CCNZ), validate growing sector confidence, with 50 percent of those polled optimistic the New Zealand construction industry is on the upward trajectory and over half predicting turnover and staff growth in the next 12 months. A significant difference in this year’s survey results is a rise in the requirement 56 infrastructurenews.co.nz
for skilled staff to unprecedented levels, with growing workloads and closed borders. A new survey of CCNZ and other key industry body members has found nine out of ten construction firms are having difficulty recruiting in New Zealand. The 135 organisations that responded to the survey collectively reported 3,229 vacancies across a wide range of jobs and experience levels, varying from professional services to trade roles. The survey found that
while many firms usually recruit from overseas, most are currently not doing so because of concerns about New Zealand’s border exception processes and criteria. CCNZ Chief Executive Peter Silcock says the findings showed that many in the industry felt that Immigration NZ’s border exception criteria were too narrow, and in some cases at odds with the Government’s intention to allocate MIQ places for the construction sector. A report on the survey
findings has been sent to Government, along with a request to meet key ministers to discuss the issues raised. The main recommendations include: - aligning Immigration NZ’s border exception criteria for “long-term critical workers” for the infrastructure sector with the MIQ group allocation criteria, - lowering the salary threshold for workers whose skills are in short supply, - adding construction sec-
