SEASONAL LABOUR FOR HORTICULTURE AND VITICULTURE INDUSTRIES: USE OF REGIONAL SURVEYS AND FORECASTS IN ALLOCATION DECISIONS

Regional seasonal labour shortages have become a quite common occurrence in recent years. especially in the major Horticulture I 'iticulture regions. The reliance 011 1r1•orkers from overseas sources under various visa & permit conditioll. \ also assumed grea1er sign~ficance over the past few years given the low unemployment levels. Regional seasonal labour needs and the potential seasonal labour suppfr had to be assessed during 2008 (and for seasons he\'Ond) for the allocation of ' overseas workers including under the Recog11ised Seasonal Labour Employer (RSE) & its r,:ansiti~nal (TRSE) schem ~ based on forecast results incorporating the responses to the Regional Labour Sun'e}'S. The sun·ev was referred to as the "Sw1•ey o.fSeasonal Lahour Employers- Demand & Supply··. It was conducted by the local industry and1or the Labour Governance Groups with assistance from the Department of Labour in survey design and in the ana~\·sis oft he responses. All the major regions with sign(ficant horticulture and viticulture activities such as Hawkes Bay (covering pipfruit. wine. kiw,~fruit & a numher o.f vegetable crops). Bay of Plenty (kiwifmir), Mar/borough (wine). Nelson (pipfruif) and Wairarapa (wine) carried out the surveys after the 2006107 season. It was imended to cover both demand-side and supply-side labour market il?formation. Demand related il!/i>rmation covered the number (~ffu/1-time stajTfn relation to casual & seasonal workers. number of seusonal workers per supervisor. method q ( hiring seasonal workers (directly or through COIIIractors), work profile (ie