New Zealand is looking for immigrants to fill skills shortages
New Zealand needs immigrants to fill skills shortages, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said, indicating he won’t seek to actively curtail a record inflow of foreign workers if he wins next month’s election.
“We are going to have to bring in skilled workers,” Hipkins said at the Bloomberg Address Wednesday in Auckland. “What we will focus on is making sure the immigration that we have is contributing to economic growth and isn’t being used as a substitute for it.”
Hipkins, leader of the ruling Labour Party, said governments “can grow the economy just by putting people into it but that’s not going to raise our standard of living.”
“We have to carefully consider our immigration settings all the way along to make sure it’s contributing to overall growth per capita,” he said.
New Zealand is experiencing near-record net immigration after Hipkins tweaked policy to help solve a damaging worker shortage that was driving up wages and costs. The surge of arrivals has so far helped to calm pressures in the labor market without injecting fresh demand into housing that might trigger a fresh wave of inflation.
New Zealand is investigating employers for exploitation of migrants, including Indians
Net immigration rose to almost 87,000 in the 12 months through June — nearing the March 2020 peak — led by a record net 122,000 foreigners entering the country.
Hipkins said immigration has probably peaked and will decline, but he refused to set a target as his party did six years ago when it came into office.
The population surge means Hipkins is walking a tightrope ahead of the Oct. 14 election. His center-left Labour Party has traditionally opposed high immigration, campaigning for limits which would protect wages and being
