The streets of Wellington are bustling with people looking to spend their money this weekend – a god-send for the hospitality and retail sectors in particular – but they’re hamstrung by a lack of staff to serve potential customers.
Everyone from bars and cafes to clothes shops and nail salons is suffering from a severe shortage of willing and available workers.
“I’ve been here for almost 30 years and have never been this miserable before,” said Sarah Leong, whose family runs Malaysian restaurant R and S Satay Noodle House on Cuba St.
Along a two-kilometre stretch from Cuba St to the Beehive end of Lambton Quay – encompassing Manners, Willis and Victoria streets – Stuff reporters counted 56 businesses displaying “staff wanted” ads in their windows.
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The staff shortages are the result of a brutal confluence of events: The unemployment rate is at a 36-year low of 3.2%; hospitality is suffering from a lack of working holiday-makers from abroad; and the twindemic of a second Omicron wave and flu season has devastated workforces.
The problems facing Wellington’s customer-facing sectors are symptomatic of the wider challenges across New Zealand’s economy.
Across the country, the number of jobs listed on the Seek website is 35% higher than three years ago, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is demonstrative of the prolonged growth experienced in all industries and regions over the past two years,” said Seek’s country manager, Rob Clark.
Statistics NZ does not break down data to show city-level vacancies, but the anecdata is clear.
“There have been people walking in to respond to the ad,” said Leong of R and S. “But it is either the working times don’t suit them or they never show up for a trial.”
Before the pandemic, international students and those on working holiday visas would stream through the doors looking for a job, even without a sign.
These days they have no paid staff. It’s all hands on deck, with the Leong family doing all the cooking, serving and cleaning.
Only three people responded to an ad in the window of Dwights Outdoors on Mercer St for a shop assistant role paying up to $25 an hour, higher than the living wage. None suitable for the job.
Manager Eugene Wolfin said they would hire anyone suitable “immediately” – the team was “stretched pretty thin”.
“We have always had a backpacker who’s in Wellington for six months or so to save up a bit of money before they go do some hikes in the South Island,” Wolfin said. “The last person we had who was passing through was probably just before the first lockdown.”
The shortages will be felt particularly acutely by those looking to capitalise on this weekend’s All Blacks vs Ireland rugby match.
Irish pub JJ Murphy, on Cuba St, is also struggling to find workers.
Even those who apply for jobs could be hard to lock in, said bar owner Eugene Wehrly. A man who came in for a trial earlier in the week did not respond when offered the job, he said.
“Once we get the backpackers back into the country […] things will definitely get back to more of a normality in terms of staffing.
“Wage isn’t an issue,” he said, adding he paid a very competitive wage, although he declined to disclose it.
It’s the same for Sky Stadium, which will host a sellout crowd for Saturday night’s game.
Chief executive Shane Harmon earlier in the week said they were short about 100 staff, mainly in the catering area, but those positions were now largely filled, although the staff were new to the job.
“Our business is experiencing the same challenges as the rest of the hospitality industry,” he said. “We’re seeking to fill a few gaps. Normally we would have had 1000 people working here [during a match].”
The closed borders had hit their hiring pool hard, he said. “When you add Covid and other illness onto that, as well as it being the middle of the school holidays, it’s just the perfect storm.”
The shortages had changed the bargaining equation, said Chili Fashion & Art owner Micky Mo, who has had a vacancy for three months.
“We don’t get a lot of applications these days, and now it’s all on the applicant’s terms instead of the employer’s,” she said.
Perhaps it was caused by the influx of people leaving Wellington or moving overseas, or perhaps a shift in people’s work aspirations.
“People are not looking for a job that will just get them by, they are looking for a career.”
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