Letter No.137
10 January, 2001

27 November 2000

About 70 new jobs will be created in Kaikohe next year when Far North electricity company Top Energy opens a new call centre. The centre will handle overseas subscription calls for Living Planet Magazine, a publication of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

An Equal Employment Opportunities Trust survey finds that 80% of recruitment professionals have first-hand experience of appropriately qualified people being rejected for jobs because of their age, accent, physical disability or being from a different culture.

29 November 2000

One in five employers has had to recruit IT staff from overseas because of a skill shortage, according to a survey by Morgan and Banks. Dale Gray of Morgan and Banks estimates NZ has a shortage of 3,000 to 5,000 IT staff.

30 November 2000

The film industry brought an estimated $750 million into NZ this year, compared to $640 million for the America's Cup. Wellington prospered most, earning $450 million, most of which was contributed by the The Lord of the Rings filming.

Nearly 1,300 Child Youth and Family Services (CYFS) social workers will get pay rises, with $13 million going into training and salaries over the next five years. The rise follows a report that says CYFS social workers are the worst paid in the public and social services sector.

Mobil opens its new customer service centre in Wellington, creating 80 new jobs.

1 December 2000

Auckland company Sachet Packing is closing its Penrose factory and relocating to Hamilton, with the loss of about 50 jobs.

Hundreds of immigrant doctors could miss out on places in a $12 million retraining scheme. Nearly 1,200 doctors have applied for the 300 places on the programme. Participants do a 16-week refresher course, then six months of hospital-based training.

3 December 2000

Britain is to scrap the debts of 41 of the world's poorest countries. The debts of 20 countries are to be written off immediately and the money for the remaining 21 held in trust until they are committed to ending conflicts, reducing poverty and improving education and health.

4 December 2000

Deputy PM Jim Anderton announces a regional development programme for Northland. He says the programme will have the same commitment to local people and jobs as the Tairawhiti Development Taskforce, which focused on the East Coast.

An unprecedented 8,789 people lost their jobs in the US "dotcom" internet sector in November, according to a recent report. The layoffs have come from 383 companies, of which 20% have gone out of business.

PM Helen Clark dismisses concerns raised by the Employers Federation that increasing the youth minimum wage may mean businesses stop employing young people. She says there is little evidence that employers are paying anywhere near the current minimum rate.

5 December 2000

The United Nations International Year of Volunteers is officially launched at Parliament. The year is about recognising and valuing the contribution of volunteers, how they strengthen and build communities, and helping promote this. Minister of Internal Affairs George Hawkins says more than a million NZ’ers do volunteer work for 60,000 groups, and $1.3 billion is invested annually in services provided by the voluntary sector.

Japanese fishing company Nissui, the new part owner of NZ’s largest fishing company, Sealord, says it plans to create 700 jobs over the next five years, mainly in Gisborne, Nelson and Dunedin.

Reports released by the Government say NZ is lagging behind the US, the UK, Canada and Australia in its efforts to close the “digital divide”. The reports criticise NZ for not having a strategy to ensure everyone has access to and the skills to use information technology.

Job ads in Australia’s metropolitan newspapers fell by 8% in November, according to the ANZ Bank. The fall is the largest for any single month since June 1990.

The Government is putting an extra $2 million into adult literacy next year. Liz Moore, chief executive of adult literacy organisation Workbase, estimates that a million NZ’ers are below the minimum level of literacy needed for life and work.

After more than 2,000 immigrant doctors expressed interest in a retraining scheme, Health Minister Annette King says a ballot will be necessary to determine the 300 who will participate.

6 December 2000

A new study finds that high-tech industries have created 1.1 million jobs in the US since 1983.

Internet job ads are growing at the rate of 15% a month. ANZ chief economist Bernard Hodgetts says this is the result of more people using the internet to advertise jobs, rather than the state of the job market.

Employment Minister Steve Maharey and Winz CEO Christine Rankin launch Winz’s new regional management plans. Each of Winz’s 13 regions will have increased flexibility to make decisions, and the new management structure will shift decision making from the national office to the regions. Maharey says regionalisation will deliver more jobs and better tailor employment support to the needs of local labour markets. The regional plans were one of the key recommendations of the Hunn report (see The Jobs Letter No. 124).

7 December 2000

The Government is considering allowing more Pacific Island people into the country to fill jobs that NZ’ers do not want. Foreign Minister Phil Goff says only people with firm job offers will be allowed into the country, and the first positions in the scheme will be filled by well-settled overstayers who qualify for NZ residency through the overstayer amnesty. He says it is “curious” that at a time of unemployment some employers cannot fill their labour demands.

Winz staff have been instructed to be more proactive in telling applicants about their extra entitlements and encouraging them to apply. A memo obtained by the Evening Post tells staff that they should always encourage people to apply for a special benefit. Beneficiaries’ circumstances no longer need to be “exceptional” to qualify.

Computer company Unisys is cutting 2000 jobs, 5% of its workforce.

9 December 2000

59,200 people lost their jobs in Australia last month, countering expectations that 15,000 jobs would be created. The Australian economy has lost 94,700 jobs in the last three months, the longest fall since Australia was last in a recession in 1991. The jobless rate has risen to 6.6% from a 10 year low of 6.3%.

10 December 2000

Te Puni Kokiri plans to commission a phone survey to find out if there is a "digital divide" between Maori and non-Maori. The Ministry also intends to research whether or not there are differences in attitude towards information and communication technologies between Maori and non-Maori, and if there is a difference in their levels of education and the training needed to use them.

11 December 2000

Steve Maharey announces the seven communities that will trial the Government's new $1.5 million Stronger Communities Action Fund. The communities will be responsible for determining and purchasing social services for the well being of children and families in their area. They are: Hokianga, Ranui, Glen Innes, Whakatane, Mangakino, Porirua, Invercargill.

13 December 2000

Independent forecasting group Business and Economic Research Ltd (Berl) is predicting NZ's unemployment rate will fall to 3.7 percent in 2003, a level not seen since the beginning of Rogernomics in 1985. Berl's figures are much more optimistic than those of other forecasters. The consensus of economists suggests the unemployment rate will fall to only 5.6%, while the Reserve Bank predicts the rate will be 5%.

Queenstown is struggling to find workers to cover the frantic holiday period. Rampant development has led to a demand for hundreds of workers, says Winz spokeswoman Phillipa Connolly. Fast food outlets are particularly crying out for staff.

14 December 2000

Japanese IT recruitment firm Access Technologies is setting up its global call centre in Wellington, initially creating 30 jobs and expanding to 500 jobs over the next three years.

The Government plans to increase the adult minimum wage by 2% to $7.70 an hour, lowering the age of eligibility for the adult minimum wage to from 20 to 18, and increase the youth minimum wage to 80% of the adult minimum by 2002.

18 December 2000

Ministry of Education projections indicate secondary school rolls will exceed historic levels in the next 10 years, creating a need for an extra 400 teachers. Current intakes at teacher training colleges will be insufficient to meet the demand. Education Minister Trevor Mallard has authorised another advertising drive for teacher trainees in January.

The exodus of skilled workers from Fiji following the latest coup is continuing and now poses a major threat to the country's economy. Teachers are expected to leave en masse by the end of January 2001. Hospitals have had to cut back the number of surgeries, because nurses are leaving in droves. Many doctors have also resigned and moved abroad. Engineers, IT personnel, accountants, and tradesmen, such as electricians and plumbers, are also leaving in large numbers.

20 December 2000

Manukau City mayor Sir Barry Curtis says the planned Highbrook Business Park in East Tamaki will create up to 15,000 jobs in ten years' time. He says the park will attract new-technology industries and other cutting-edge industries that are the future of employment in NZ.

US companies Aetna and Gillette announce this week that they are cutting 7,700 jobs.

21 December 2000

Steve Maharey announces a list of industries with skill shortages that are to be targeted in an apprenticeship scheme starting next year. They include: boating, building and construction, dairy manufacturing, electrical, engineering, hospitality, printing, and telecommunications.

According to migration statistics issued today, the number of skilled people leaving NZ permanently in the year to November 2000 rose 53% to 4,429, compared to 2,890 for the year to November 1999. National immigration spokeswoman Marie Hasler says the statistics show the brain drain is speeding up.

27 December 2000

Unemployment in Japan rose to a near-record 4.8% in November.

1 January 2001

Japan has unveiled an ambitious plan to transform itself into a leading internet nation and revitalize its economy. It plans to connect 60% of its population to the internet using the most state-of-the-art high-speed network in the world. The plan will require huge numbers of IT workers. The Ministry of Commerce estimates Japan has a shortage of 200,000 IT specialists.

3 January 2001

Bay of Plenty kiwifruit packing and storage company Eastpak announces a $10 million expansion in Te Puke. The move will create about 80 seasonal jobs.

The Christchurch College of Education says aggressive recruiting of NZ secondary school teachers by overseas agencies is aggravating the growing domestic shortage of teachers. College principal Ian Hall says he is taking daily enquiries about teacher recruitment from Britain, which also has a teacher shortage.