Multi-year funding approach needed to deliver skilled workers, EMA says
The Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) of New Zealand is calling on the government to deliver a "responsible" budget that will encourage innovation and attract skilled workers to the country.
"We also want to see a budget that supports modernising the New Zealand economy, prepares us for carbon neutrality, and ensures we're internationally competitive, sending clear messages to our trading partners about the direction we are taking as a country," said EMA chief executive Brett O'Riley in a statement.
According to O'Riley, the government needs to set up a multi-year funding approach to skills that brings on four key elements:
- Domestic compulsory education system
- International education system
- Trades and vocational training
- Immigration system
"All of these component parts must be fit for purpose and part of an integrated approach to deliver the pipeline of skilled people we need into the future," O'Riley said.
This comes as New Zealand's employers struggle against finding new staff, with 90% employers from EMA's 2023 Skills Shortage Survey admitting that they are finding it difficult to fill vacancies.
According to the survey, recruiting talent from overseas remains a problem as many employers struggle to in navigating the migrant visa process.
"Other countries are beating us in this regard, and we are in a highly competitive global battle to be a highly skilled economy," O'Riley said in a statement.
Innovation needed from budget
Meanwhile, the EMA said it is "interested" on how the government will translate its goal to innovate into initiatives and funding.
"We look forward to further details on this, but one of the initiatives we have long been advocating for is accelerated depreciation, which was identified by the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Transformation Plan as something that would a great impact on business," O'Riley said.
Accelerated depreciation "reduces the cost of a companies' new investments by allowing them to deduct the money they spent from their taxable income more quickly," O'Riley previously explained to the Newsroom. It also aims to help businesses with the transition towards carbon neutrality.
The statement comes as the New Zealand government unveils its targets for its 2023 Budget, which includes a flood and cyclone recovery package worth a billion dollars.
