A Job Is More Than An Hourly Rate

Immigration policymakers and officials need to urgently rethink the way they value a job beyond the hourly rate so businesses can bring in the skilled and essential workers needed urgently to support primary exports and the hospitality, accommodation, and tourism sectors to shore up trade and economic recovery, says Auckland Business Chamber CEO, Michael Barnett.

“The assumption that the value of a job can be measured by an hourly rate is wrong. That short-sightedness in understanding that jobs defined by officials as low skilled, low paid and low priority are actually vital cogs in a longer and deeper supply and delivery chain is threatening to become a trade, employment and economic recovery issue” – the borders open with the prospect of more tourists is wasted if you can’t get staff to make beds, pour coffee or pull pints and our billion dollar meat export opportunities are wasted if we can’t get Halal slaughtermen to assist the processing.

The frustration of not getting immediate action in opening the border to a diverse list of key workers from fruit pickers to machine operators, cooks to housekeepers and halal slaughtermen is the difference of NZ being open for business or shutting up shop.

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