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3 Minutes to Read WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Reuters) – The Pacific nation’s guarded borders have helped keep COVID-19 out, but a crucial scarcity of migrant labor is now fueling protests among businesses and workers facing a staffing crisis. On the first day of New Zealand’s new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) safety precaution, which demands wearing a mask on public transportation, people jog by a social distancing notice in Auckland, New Zealand, on August 31, 2020. Fiona Goodall/File Photo/REUTERS On Tuesday, nearly 2,000 restaurants around the country halted service and shut off lights as part of a two-month campaign to call the government’s attention to the serious shortages of skilled labor. New Zealand closed its border in March last year in reaction to the growing coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a labor shortage. COVID-19 was contained locally as a result of the efforts, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has pledged to continue an internationally praised extermination strategy. However, while the COVID-free economy has recovered faster than projected, its vaccination rate is far lower than that of developed peers, and immigration has reached historic lows, resulting in severe labor shortages in a country that relies heavily on low-skilled migrant workers. “Before COVID-19 hit and blocked our borders, upwards of 25% of our employees were international work visa holders,” stated the Restaurant Association of New Zealand, which organized the protests. “Losing them is enough to create such a difference that it can have devastating consequences for a firm,” the association stated. According to media reports, certain eateries in Auckland and other large cities have temporarily closed owing to understaffing or to give their burned-out staff a respite. The government’s immigration reset, announced in May, will reduce the number of low-skilled migrants even lower when borders reopen, while attempting to attract more highly educated migrants and wealthy investors. “If the government does not reverse this policy, more restaurants will close, which is unfortunate, and potentially new and great restaurants will be unable to open because the innovators out there will find it too difficult to begin recruiting,” said Mike Egan, National President of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand. According to a recent business poll, hiring limits are becoming more prevalent across a variety of industries, with companies stating that getting skilled labor is more challenging than before. Workers in essential services are also dissatisfied. Approximately 30,000 nurses are expected to strike later this year in a series of strikes for improved pay and working conditions, citing burnout as a reason. “We are confronting a national health crisis in terms of safe staffing, recruiting, and retention; and the working conditions our members are subjected to can no longer be tolerated, which is why our issues matter,” said David Wait, lead advocate for the New Zealand Nurses Organisation. Praveen Menon contributed reporting, and Sam Holmes edited the piece./nRead More

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