General Publications
Department of Labour Annual Report 2006
Report on the Department's Activities in 2005/06
What the Department achieved
Helping People and Business
Over the year the Department has been particularly focused on improving workplace productivity and increasing skills and opportunities for participation.
The Department’s statement of intent 2005/06 set out five long-term goals and a number of medium-term priorities for each goal. The five long-term goals are:
- improved labour market outcomes for sectors, regions and firms through effective partnerships and strategies.
- all people have opportunities to participate in well-paid and meaningful employment.
- people’s skills match the current, and respond to the future, needs of the labour market.
- New Zealand’s workplaces are attractive, innovative and productive.
- New Zealand’s voice on labour market, migration and humanitarian issues is effectively heard abroad, and our security and prosperity interests are advanced and protected.
Along with these goals, the Government required the Department to particularly focus on:
- improving workplace productivity
- higher skill levels and better use of skills
- maintaining and improving labour market participation
- improving the quality of labour market information.
Each key achievement listed below helped the Department move closer to its stated goals and the Government’s focus. Full details of what the Department achieved in 2005/06 are included in the statement of objectives and statement of service performance and the financial statements sections of this report.
Long-term goal 1: improved labour market outcomes for sectors, regions and firms through effective partnerships and strategies
The way we help to improve labour market outcomes can be seen in our assistance for industries with seasonal labour needs, our work to ensure good relationships between employers and workers, our involvement in skills training, and our partnerships with regional and local productivity and labour initiatives, such as the following examples.
Seasonal Labour Strategy
In December 2005 the Department established a pilot seasonal work permit policy to help address seasonal labour shortages in the horticulture and viticulture industries. this has proved successful in regions identified with a labour shortage, with around 2,800 of the 4,000 places available already filled.
Feedback from both industry and the Ministry of Social Development indicated that demand for labour would remain high after 30 June 2006, so the pilot end date was extended from 30 June 2006 to 30 September 2007.
Working Holiday Scheme
Working Holiday Scheme visas are available to people aged 18–30 who want to visit New Zealand and work for up to 12 months, or 23 months for citizens of the United Kingdom. There are currently Working Holiday Schemes with 25 different countries and several more schemes are under negotiation.
To help keep the Working Holiday Scheme attractive for an internet-savvy generation, online processing of visa and permit applications was introduced in July 2005 for people coming to New Zealand from Germany, Ireland and the United States. This was successful and online application and processing was made available in September for applicants from a further 10 countries, and in November for applicants from six more countries. Online applications and processing for Working Holiday Scheme visits are now possible from 19 countries. There are plans to extend online applications and processing to two more countries in the upcoming 2006/07 financial year.
Notable achievements in the Working Holiday Scheme are:
- 59% of applications from Working Holiday Scheme countries with online processing were made online
- More than 80% of applications from Germany, Ireland, Korea and the United States were made online
- Uptake of Working Holiday Scheme places increased 35.6% in 2005/06 to 28,500 working holidaymakers
- A further 10,000 places were divided between the respective Belgian, Canadian, Danish, Finnish, French, Irish, Italian, Norwegian and United States Working Holiday Schemes
- The scheme caps for the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands were removed
- Work restrictions were eased for applicants from some countries, allowing working holidaymakers from Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States, to work for up to 12 months with one employer
- Working holidaymakers from the United Kingdom could stay for up to 23 months
- Introduction of the first restricted Working Holiday Scheme for people from Thailand. The restricted scheme has additional requirements that applicants need to meet.
Tourism and International Education
The Department supported the tourism and international education industries with promotions and activities, and made decisions on visas and permits to allow the temporary entry of visitors and students. A total of 397,296 temporary visa and permit decisions were made for 2005/06, an increase of nearly 3% from 2004/05. The figures for 2005/06 are made up of the following permit types:
- Visitor: 158,690
- Student: 99,161
- Work: 139,445.
Mayors ’ Taskforce for Jobs
The Department of Labour, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development, supports the Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs. The Taskforce’s goal, shared with the Government, is that: “All 15–19 year olds be engaged in appropriate education, training, work, or other options which will lead to long-term economic independence and wellbeing by 2007.”
Three areas of focus are Maori youth (Maori Youth Employment and Enterprise), youth with limited foundation skills (Investing in Youth Locally) and young people who have disabilities (Young Employees with Disability). The benefit of diversity in the youth workforce is a common theme across the three priority areas and is unified under the campaign title ‘Our Youth, Our Future’. A toolkit designed to support the civic leadership role of mayors and council chief executives is being developed to promote the focus areas.
This work by the Department also contributes to long-term goals 2, 3 and 4 – all people have opportunities to participate in well-paid and meaningful employment, matching skills to the needs of the labour market, and workplaces being attractive, innovative and productive.
Partnership with the Economic Development Association of New Zealand
We worked in partnership with the Economic Development Association of New Zealand on two initiatives to support regional labour market development – a database of local and regional labour market initiatives and the draft Regional Labour Market Strategy Development guidelines for economic development practitioners.
The Department also jointly presented a series of workshops around New Zealand on Regional Labour Market Strategy Development as part of the Economic Development Association’s professional development programme.
This work by the Department also contributes to long-term goals 2, 3 and 4 – all people have opportunities to participate in well-paid and meaningful employment, matching skills to the needs of the labour market, and workplaces being attractive, innovative and productive.
The Food and Beverage Sector
Over the year the Department worked with the food and beverage sector as part of the Government’s Growth and Innovation Framework. We were involved in two working groups, the Innovation Working Group and the Skills Working Group, that are helping support the Food and Beverage Taskforce.
The Department co-chaired the Skills Working Group and led the Group’s work programme to improve the quality of labour market information in the food and beverage sector, identify ways to generate increased strategic investment in training and resolve issues associated with food and beverage career development. During the year, the Department-led food and beverage sector Skills Working Group has:
- Designed and tested a labour forecasting framework
- Identified issues associated with increasing productivity by using science and technology
- Developed a way to identify productivity issues in industry sectors
- Examined reasons for occupational skill shortages in the sector and identified ways to address those shortages
- Worked with government agencies, employers, unions, research organisations, industry training organisations and tertiary education providers to increase collaboration and refocus their investment decisions on areas that benefit the food and beverage sector
- Assessed promotional activity for careers in the food and beverage sector
- Designed a Skills Action Plan and suggested establishing an action group to oversee implementation of the plan, in conjunction with the establishment of a centre of workforce excellence.
This work by the Department also contributes to long-term goals 3 and 4 – matching skills to the needs of the labour market, and workplaces being attractive, innovative and productive.
Regional Labour Market Strategy Initiatives
The Department works with business and government organisations and with economic development agencies to identify likely future labour market demand and the best way to ensure that businesses have access to the skills they need to be effective and productive. This work is done on a national and regional basis and also across various economic sectors.
An example of this is the Wellington Labour Market Strategy, developed with the assistance of 120 organisations and individuals. This strategy has resulted in work getting under way on issues around labour market productivity in the region.
Forecasting Labour
Forecasting likely labour needs is an important part of the Department’s work. Two examples of this forecasting work are in the food and beverage sector and in forecasting seasonal labour needs.
The Skills Working Group in the food and beverage sector used a forecasting framework developed by an external consultant to assess likely growth in labour demand in the sector over the medium term. The forecasting framework was tested in the dairy and wine sub-sectors and looked at labour demand in jobs from production to retailing. Testing included consultation with industry and training groups. This work was coordinated and managed by the Department to ensure the development of the framework meets overall forecasting needs.
The Department also developed a Seasonal Labour Forecasting Tool for the horticulture and viticulture industries. The forecasting tool is now being made operational.
This work by the Department also contributes to long-term goal 3 – matching skills to the needs of the labour market.
Future of Work Event Series
During the year the tripartite forum (State Services Commission, Department of Labour, and Public Service Association) organised three seminars and a symposium to build awareness and understanding of changes in the environment that will affect future State sector work, workforces and workplaces.
The seminars and symposium helped build a better understanding of labour market issues in the State sector and identified strategies to enable the State sector to start working to meet these challenges.
This work by the Department also contributes to long-term goals 3 and 4 - matching skills to the needs of the labour market, and workplaces being attractive, innovative and productive.