Feature article

New opportunities for Pacific development – seasonal labour to NZ

Feature article No. 6 | 1 May 2007

In October last year the Prime Minister announced a new policy enabling the New Zealand horticulture and viticulture sector to recruit seasonal workers from offshore, giving preference to the Pacific. This was a response to requests from Pacific Island countries for improved access for their workers into the New Zealand labour market, and recognition of the labour shortages experienced by the sector.

The Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme is a significant opportunity for low-skilled workers in the Pacific to earn an income and acquire skills. They often have few opportunities at home to get a job. Formal employment in the Pacific is low – in Melanesia less than 15% of the working-age population have formal jobs. The World Bank expects the number of formal sector jobs in Pacific Island countries to grow by less than 10% in the coming ten years, well below population growth rates in many countries. Meanwhile, the New Zealand horticulture and viticulture sectors have struggled with labour shortages, resulting in loss of earnings.

RSE has been designed with the development of Pacific countries and New Zealand's horticulture and viticulture industries at its heart. It is an attempt to provide a win-win solution where NZ employers have a secure labour supply that they can utilise in successive years (and so an incentive to invest in workers to reap productivity gains over time); and the Pacific has new income opportunities. Under the scheme, Pacific workers with a job offer from an employer who has achieved RSE status are able to come to New Zealand for seven months in any eleven month period (nine months for Kiribati and Tuvalu given the higher transport costs for these countries). If they meet the conditions of their permit and there is continued demand for their labour, they can return in subsequent years. Individuals and their communities back home can benefit from the income and skills they acquire, as well as be exposed to new ideas. Pastoral care requirements on employers will help protect workers from exploitation, along with the requirement that employers pay half the transport costs of workers to come to New Zealand.

In order to kick start the scheme, arrangements to facilitate recruitment have been developed with five Pacific Island countries – Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu (countries New Zealand has an established migration relationship with), and Vanuatu (to gain experience with a Melanesian country where some of the development needs are largest). One of the five key principles agreed by the New Zealand Government, the five Kick Start states, and employers, is that the RSE scheme should be development-focused.

There are various ways in which this development-focus can be achieved. Firstly, by trying to ensure that those in the region who benefit are people who have few other prospects; particularly people in rural areas and the unemployed. The scheme should help build skills in the Pacific, not contribute to the loss of much-needed skills by recruiting highly skilled people.

Secondly, the scheme can help foster broader development relationships between New Zealand employers and communities with communities in the Pacific. For example, employers may wish to recruit workers from particular communities. Employers get a workforce that knows and can support each other; and community structures can reinforce the importance of being good workers and complying with the policy. As relationships between employers and communities strengthen other opportunities for collaboration may develop, such as support to community projects, additional training opportunities, or even joint ventures. Early pilots for the RSE (including a group of Vanuatu workers in Central Otago) provide encouraging signs that employers are seeing the potential for community linkages.

New Zealand knows that the scheme will not be without costs, including social disruption in the communities that workers come from. These should not be underestimated. Monitoring will be important so that Pacific Island countries and New Zealand can better understand the impacts and improve the policy over time. New Zealand will provide some assistance to Pacific Island states for monitoring and for some other aspects in relation to the introduction of the policy.

The RSE does not diminish the urgent need for domestic economic policies in the islands that promote job creation. Only 5000 seasonal workers can come to New Zealand under the RSE scheme each year, far short of the number of people in the region who need jobs. But labour mobility can expand the job opportunities for Pacific Islanders. The RSE scheme is an example where New Zealand policy can contribute to economic development in our neighbours.

Contact: communications@nzaid.govt.nz

Page Last Reviewed: 11 May, 2007

Document URL: http://www.nzaid.govt.nz/library/articles/archives/rse.html

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