WELLINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Almost 80 percent of New Zealand building firms reported job vacancies last year, prompting lawmakers to claim a lack of trained workers was contributing to the country's housing crisis.
Of the construction firms with vacancies, 58 percent had "hard-to-fill" vacancies, the government's Statistics New Zealand agency said Wednesday.
The agency's Business Operations Survey of almost 40,000 businesses found 76 percent reported staff vacancies, the same as in 2014.
"The highest proportion of businesses with vacancies was in the accommodation and food services industry, at 85 percent," business performance senior manager Daria Kwon said in a statement.
"This was closely followed by electricity, gas, water and waste services, arts and recreation services, and health care and social assistance firms on 84 percent."
Businesses reported that trade-related skills, management or supervisory skills, and professional or technical skills were difficult to find in job applicants.
The figures showed the government's failure to invest in training was contributing to the housing crisis, the opposition Labour Party said.
"Since 2008, the number of people training in building-related qualifications has risen by just 7 percent, despite surging demand for houses," skills and training spokesperson Jenny Salesa said in a statement.
The government had chosen to rely on imported labor after the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, rather than to expand and upskill the construction workforce, she said.
"If we had built up our construction workforce then, we would now have the people we need to meet the demand for new houses nationwide and fill the housing shortage," said Salesa.
"The shortage of skilled workers is driving up build costs, and contributing to reports of shoddy building work," she said.
"The housing shortage stands at 60,000 and is growing by over 1,000 houses a month."
