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1
Recruitment for the RSE Scheme, 2020/21:
An exceptional year
Richard Bedford
1
The arrival of 2,017 seasonal workers between mid-October 2020 and mid-March 2021 was
the smallest recruitment for the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme during any
financial year since the scheme was launched in 2007. The exceptional nature of this small
recruitment can be seen very clearly in the graph below.
The COVID-19 pandemic that led governments in every country in the Pacific region to greatly
restrict the flows of people across their international borders effectively terminated
recruitment for the RSE scheme from March 19 2020 until early 2021. The first exception to
the very strict border control maintained by the Government of New Zealand over flows of
seasonal workers was in October 2020 when six Taiwanese tea pickers were granted RSE work
visas to assist Zealong Tea Estate with their harvest.
A much more significant border exemption for RSE workers was between mid-January and
mid-March 2021. This exemption, or BE 1 for short, allowed for just over 2,000 seasonal
1
Dr Richard Bedford is Emeritus Professor at the University of Waikato and the Auckland University of
Technology. This report draws on unpublished information relating to visas issued to seasonal workers
participating in New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme. The data were provided by Michael
Jones, Senior Adviser in the Pacific Migration Team in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE). Michael’s assistance with my on-going research into the operation of the RSE scheme is greatly
appreciated. The report is an unsolicited one, provided to MBIE in the spirit of reciprocity as an
acknowledgement of the support provided by the Migration Pacific Team and the Toso Vaka o Manū Team for
research on migration from the Pacific to New Zealand.
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
RSE arrivals
2
workers to be recruited from Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu. These recruits are the subject of this
report which is organised into seven sections addressing the following questions:
1. Who were the RSE workers recruited during the 2020/21 financial year?
2. What was the previous work experience of the BE 1 recruits?
3. How many of the BE 1 recruits were also RSE workers in 2019/20?
4. How many of the BE 1 recruits were employed as RSE workers before 2019/20?
5. How were the BE 1 recruits distributed amongst the registered RSEs?
6. How many RSEs had joint ATR arrangements for their BE 1 recruits?
7. What was the regional distribution of the BE 1 recruits?
The report concludes with some brief reflections on what was an exceptional year for
recruitment of RSE workers during the 2020/21 financial year.
1. Who were the RSE workers recruited during the 2020/21 financial year?
The MBIE database for FY 2020/21 contains 2,018 entries for five countries:
Table 1: RSE workers arriving during the 2020/21 FY
Nationality
Female
Male
Total
% female
Fiji
1
69
70
1.4
Samoa
16
759
775
2.1
Taiwan
6
6
0.0
Tuvalu
1
1
0.0
Vanuatu
28
1138
1166
2.4
Total
45
1973
2018
2.2
The 6 Taiwanese in Table 1 arrived in October 2020 and went home in January 2021. They
must have been the subject of a separate arrangement for specialist tea pickers. The 10
Taiwanese recruited by Zealong Estate in 2019/20 had all returned home before the border
closed on 19 March 2020. They arrived in New Zealand on 24 October 2019 and left on 4
December 2019.
The one Tuvaluan was entered into the database on 15 April 2021 and left again on 15 April
2021. This is likely to be a miscoding of someone already in New Zealand who was getting a
visa extension, rather than someone arriving under the BE 1 provisions. In the tables and
discussion that follow only the 2,011 workers from Fiji (70), Samoa (775) and Vanuatu (1,166)
are included. These workers all arrived between 17 January and 6 March 2021 and, as noted
earlier, they are termed the BE 1 recruits.
3
Gender breakdown
BE 1 recruitment was essentially a recruitment of men – only 45 (2.2 percent) of the 2,011
workers that arrived from the three Pacific sources were women. There was a slightly higher
percentage (2.4%) of women amongst the ni-Vanuatu arrivals than was the case for Samoans
(2.1%) and Fijians (1.6%). These are much lower percentages of women than were present
in the 2019/20 arrivals, especially from Fiji (6.8%) and Vanuatu (9.9%). In 2019/20 2.8% of
Samoan RSE arrivals were women. Of the 7,132 arrivals from these three countries in
2019/20, 519 (7.3%) were women.
2. What was the previous work experience of the BE 1 recruits?
A feature of the border exemption recruitment early in 2021 was the expectation that only
experienced seasonal workers would be selected. Of the 2,011 workers who arrived between
17 January and 6 March, 2,002 had been employed as a seasonal worker in an earlier year
(Table 2). Nine recruits (one from Samoa and eight from Vanuatu), highlighted below in red,
were in their first year of employment as seasonal workers in the scheme. Two of the new
recruits from Vanuatu were women. Two RSEs in the Bay of Plenty and one in Hawke’s Bay
had recruited these first season workers as part of larger teams from Vanuatu and Samoa.
Table 2: First year of employment as an RSE worker, arrivals 2021
Year started
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
Total
2007/08
9
21
30
2008/09
27
50
77
2009/10
15
35
50
2010/11
21
30
51
2011/12
23
45
68
2012/13
22
66
88
2013/14
36
66
102
2014/15
35
62
97
2015/16
4
55
94
153
2016/17
17
92
119
228
2017/18
19
124
188
331
2018/19
24
175
242
441
2019/20
6
140
140
286
2020/21
1
8
9
Total
70
775
1166
2011
Just over half (52.6%) of the recruits (1,058) had arrived for the first time during the three
previous years, with the remaining 944 (excluding the 9 new workers in 2021), or 47% of the
4
total, having their first RSE work experience at some stage during the decade before 2017/18
(Table 2).
Number of seasons worked
A more precise indication of the previous work experience of BE 1 recruits is given in Table 3.
The great majority (72%) had been RSE workers for under five seasons with all 70 Fijians in
this category. The “most experienced” of the three Pacific workforces, in terms of number of
seasons employed by RSEs before 2021, were the ni-Vanuatu. Just under a third (32.5%) had
been to New Zealand five or more times for seasonal work, compared with 23.6% of the
Samoans and none of the Fijians (Table 3).
Table 3: Number of seasons as an RSE employee before 2020/21
Seasons before 2020/21
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
Total
0
1
8
9
1
27
207
314
548
2
19
173
202
394
3
18
118
153
289
4
6
93
110
209
5
40
85
125
6
30
72
102
7
32
73
105
8
17
49
66
9
23
38
61
10
15
29
44
11
15
19
34
12
8
13
21
13
3
1
4
Total
70
775
1166
2011
Percentages
Under 5 years
100.0
76.4
67.5
72.1
5-9 years
0.0
18.3
27.2
22.8
10 years and over
0.0
5.3
5.3
5.1
There were only small differences between the 1,966 men and the 45 women recruits in
terms of their previous seasonal work experience. The shares returning for under five seasons
were 72.1% and 71.1% respectively. A higher share of the men (5.2%) had been employed for
10 or more seasons than the women (2.2%).
5
3. How many of the BE 1 recruits were also RSE workers in 2019/20?
Equal numbers (140) of Samoans and ni-Vanuatu had their first season as RSE workers during
2019/20 (Table 2). The great majority of these 286 recruits would have spent at least 10
months in RSE employment during 2019/20. But they are only a small share of the workers
recruited in early 2021 who had returned after a break of between three and six months back
at home. In fact, just under 60 percent (1,181) of the 2,011 BE 1 recruits from the three
countries had been working in New Zealand during the previous year (Table 4).
Table 4: BE 1 recruits employed in 2019/20
Nationality
Female
Male
Total
Numbers
Fiji
0
16
16
Samoa
8
579
587
Vanuatu
15
563
578
Total
23
1158
1181
Percentages of all
2020/21 recruits
Fiji
0.0
23.2
22.9
Samoa
50.0
76.3
75.7
Vanuatu
53.6
49.5
49.6
Total
51.1
58.9
58.7
Percentages with
same employer
Fiji
0.0
50.0
50.0
Samoa
100.0
91.9
91.9
Vanuatu
100.0
88.3
88.6
Total
100.0
89.6
89.8
Percentages in
same region
Fiji
0.0
93.8
93.8
Samoa
100.0
94.5
94.5
Vanuatu
93.3
86.3
86.5
Total
95.7
90.6
90.7
6
The opportunity to recruit experienced workers, who had not had an extended period of
employment in New Zealand after the border closed on 19 March 2020, was really only taken
up by employers of Fijians. Of the 70 Fijians recruited under BE 1, under a quarter (22.9%)
were returning after employment during the previous year. This compares with over three-
quarters (75.7%) of the Samoan recruits and just under half (49.6%) and those from Vanuatu
(Table 4).
The great majority of workers in 2019/20 who returned in 2021 had the same employer
(89.9%) and were working in the same region (90.7%) in both years. Returning Samoans had
the highest percentages with the same employer (91.9%) and region of employment (94.5%).
Half of the Fijians had a different employer in 2021 from the one that was their primary RSE
in 2019/20, but nearly all of them were working in the same region (93.8%). The ni-Vanuatu
had slightly lower percentages with the same employer and region in both years (Table 4).
4. How many of the BE 1 recruits were employed as RSE workers before 2019/20?
Significant percentages of BE 1 recruits were RSE seasonal workers in 2019/20 (58.7%),
2018/19 (78.1%), 2017/18 (56.6%) and in 2016/17 or earlier (47.0%). These percentages,
which vary across the three suppliers of BE 1 workers, are highlighted in red in Table 5.
Notwithstanding these differences between groups of recruits, the data in Table 5 indicate
that there is considerable stability in terms of employer and region of employment in the RSE
(percentages in blue and purple respectively).
Table 5: Some features of the previous RSE seasonal employment of BE 1 recruits
Year of previous RSE employment
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
Total
Total number of BE 1 recruits
70
775
1166
2011
2019/20
Number of 2021 recruits employed in 2019/20
16
587
578
1181
% of all 2021 recruits working for RSEs in 2019/20
22.9
75.7
49.6
58.7
% of 2019/20 returnees working with same employer
50.0
92.0
88.6
89.8
% of 2019/20 returnees working in same region
93.8
94.5
86.5
90.7
2018/19
Number of 2021 recruits employed in 2018/19
63
575
932
1570
% of all 2021 recruits working for RSEs in 2018/19
90.0
74.2
79.9
78.1
% of 2018/19 returnees working with same employer
65.1
83.7
69.0
74.2
% of 2018/19 returnees working in same region
74.6
88.3
72.7
78.5
7
2017/18
Number of 2021 recruits employed in 2017/18
40
405
694
1139
% of all 2021 recruits working for RSEs in 2017/18
57.1
52.3
59.5
56.6
% of 2017/18 returnees working with same employer
47.5
81.7
65.3
70.5
% of 2017/18 returnees working in same region
82.5
88.9
73.3
79.2
Before 2017/18*
Number of 2021 recruits employed before 2017/18
21
336
589
946
% of all 2021 recruits working for RSEs before 2017/18
30.0
43.4
50.5
47.0
% of before 17/18 returnees working with same employer
57.1
76.5
57.0
64.0
% of before 17/18 returnees working in same region
71.4
83.3
70.3
74.9
* The employer and the region before 2017/18 are the ones workers had in their most recent season
of RSE work between 2007/08 and 2016/17.
There is a high level of retention in the RSE workforce with the great majority of returnees
coming back to work for the same RSE employer or contractor. The percentages highlighted
in blue in Table 5 refer to the shares of 2021 recruits employed in the specified earlier years
who were working for the same employer/contractor in that year as well as 2021. The
percentages in purple, which tend to be higher than those in blue, refer to the shares of
recruits working in the same region in 2021 and in the specified year in Table 5.
5. How were the BE 1 recruits distributed amongst the registered RSEs?
Just under half (67) of the 132 RSEs that obtained seasonal workers from Pacific countries
during the 2019/20 financial year received one or more BE 1 recruits. A summary of the
distribution of the 2,011 workers, who arrived from Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu between mid-
January and early March 2021, is shown in Table 6.
Table 6: Distribution of BE 1 recruits across RSEs
Groupings of
Numbers of
Percentages of
workers
RSEs
Workers
RSEs
Workers
100 +
4
763
6.0
37.9
50-99
7
502
10.5
25.0
30-49
7
253
10.5
12.6
20-29
10
238
14.9
11.8
10-19
9
112
13.4
5.6
5-9
17
110
25.3
5.5
1-4
13
33
19.4
1.6
Total
67
2011
100.0
100.0
8
Four of the RSEs that regularly receive large numbers of seasonal workers (Mr Apple, Seasonal
Solutions Co-operative, Turners and Growers NZ Ltd and Seeka Kiwifruit Industries), received
just under 30 percent of the BE 1 recruits. Over 60% of the recruits (1,265) went to 11 (16.5
percent) of the 67 RSEs while, at the other end of the distribution, 45% of the RSEs shared
just over 7% (143) of the recruits (Table 6). The median number of BE 1 workers across the 67
RSEs was 10.
There were some differences in the distributions of Fijians, Samoans and ni-Vanuatu across
the RSEs (Table 7). The number of RSEs shown in Table 7 sums to more than 67 and that is
because 12 of them had recruits from more than one country. These RSEs with multi-country
workforces end up being counted in each source country’s total number of RSEs. One RSE
had workers from Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu; three had workers from Fiji and Vanuatu; and
eight had workers from Samoa and Vanuatu. Three of the 67 RSEs just had workers from Fiji,
14 just from Samoa and 37 just from Vanuatu.
It is clear from Tables 6 and 7 that there is a lot of variability in the numbers of BE 1 recruits
allocated to each RSE. However, the median number of recruits per RSE is small for all three
sources – 10 in the case of Fijians, 11.5 for ni-Vanuatu and 18.5 for Samoans. While four RSEs
received over 100 BE 1 workers each (and, in the case of three of these, over 200 each), three
RSEs received one recruit each, and four more received two recruits each. Given the small
size of the overall recruitment, these small numbers of workers per RSE are to be expected.
The 2,011 recruits from Pacific sources for the 2020/21 financial year were the equivalent of
only a fifth (19.6%) of the 10,238 RSE recruits from Pacific sources during the previous
financial year.
Table 7: Distribution of BE 1 recruits across RSEs, by source country
Groupings of
Numbers of RSEs
Percentages of workers
workers
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
100 +
1
2
29.6
27.2
50-99
3
4
31.6
24.8
30-49
2
5
8.3
14.5
20-29
1
4
7
38.6
12.2
15.1
10-19
1
7
9
15.7
12.5
10.5
5-9
4
6
10
44.3
5.5
5.3
1-4
1
1
13
1.4
0.3
2.6
Total
7
24
50
100.0
100.0
100.0
9
Distribution of 2019/20 returnees across RSEs
It has already been noted that just under 60% of the 2,011 BE 1 recruits had been employed
as seasonal workers during 2019/20 (see Table 5). For over a third (24 or 35.8%) of the 67
RSEs, 100% of their BE 1 recruits had been working in New Zealand during the 2019/20
financial year (Table 8). Their 228 recruits comprised just under 20% of the 1,181 2019/20
returnees, and 11% of the total number recruited early in 2021 (Table 8).
Over 75% of the recruits for a further 15 RSEs (22.4%) were returnees (Table 8). When these
RSEs are combined with those whose recruits were all returnees, just under 60% of the 67
RSEs are accounted for. Only 11 (16.4%) of the RSEs had no 2019/20 returnees amongst their
BE 1 recruits. The great majority of RSEs had selected a significant share of their 2021 workers
from returnees who had had between three and six months at best in residence back in their
home countries before re-recruitment.
Table 8: Distribution of returnees from 2019/20 across RSEs
BE 1 recruits who are
No. of
2019/20
All BE 1
% of
% 2019/20
% all BE 1
2019/20 returnees (%)
RSEs
workers
recruits
RSEs
workers
recruits
100 percent
24
228
228
35.8
19.3
11.3
75-99 percent
15
661
720
22.4
56.0
35.8
40-74 percent
9
137
258
13.4
11.6
12.8
1-40 percent
8
155
615
11.9
13.1
30.6
None
11
0
190
16.4
0.0
9.5
Total
67
1181
2011
99.9
100.0
100.0
6. How many RSEs had joint ATR arrangements for their BE 1 recruits?
Just under one quarter (474 or 23.5%) of the 2,011 BE 1 recruits were on joint ATRs (Table 9).
A higher share (30.5%) of the Ni-Vanuatu workers had joint ATRs than was the case for
Samoans (15.3%). None of the Fijian BE 1 recruits were on joint ATRs (Table 9).
The percentage of recruits on joint ATRs is surprisingly low, given that RSEs were encouraged
to recruit workers for the maximum time permitted under the RSE work visa, and to share
them with other RSEs where their seasonal requirements permitted. Some of the RSEs who
often have seasonal workers from the Pacific on joint ATRs, like Mr Apple, had less than 5%
of their 229 BE 1 recruits in this category. Some of the RSEs they regularly partner with had
the relevant joint ATRs in 2021 (e.g. Thornhill Viticulture and Horticulture).
10
Table 9: Single and joint ATRs for BE 1 recruits, by source country
Number of ATRs per recruit
Nationality
One
Two
Three
Total
Fiji
70
70
Samoa
656
90
29
775
Tonga
811
319
36
1166
Total
1537
409
65
2011
Percentages
Fiji
100.0
100.0
Samoa
84.7
11.6
3.7
100.0
Tonga
69.5
27.4
3.1
100.0
Total
76.5
20.3
3.2
100.0
Employers with joint ATRs
Only 12 (18%) of the 67 RSEs had BE 1 recruits on joint ATRs. Four of the largest ones had
more than 60% of these workers on joint ATRs. Two were contractors (Thornhill Viticulture
Horticulture and Vinepower), and more than 90% of their recruits were on arrangements
involving either two or three ATRs. Both contractors have seasonal labour supply
arrangements with employers in more than one region, especially Marlborough and the
Hawke’s Bay, and both received very similar numbers of RSE workers under the special border
exemption arrangements (84 for Thornhill and 83 for Vinepower).
The other two RSEs with significant shares of workers on joint ATRs were Seasonal Solutions
Co-operative (93%) and Turners and Growers NZ Ltd (61%). Seasonal Solutions has members
of its co-operative in three South Island regions (Otago, Canterbury and Marlborough). The
company also has arrangements for sharing workers with employers in the Hawke’s Bay and
Bay of Plenty regions. Of their 208 BE 1 recruits, 194 were on joint ATRs.
Turners and Growers NZ Ltd has horticulture businesses in several regions and a significant
part of their RSE workforce is shared between their business units given that the seasonal
demands for labour vary with the crop(s) being grown in different parts of the country.
Turners and Growers had the largest number (38) and proportion (34.5%) of their 110 BE 1
recruits who had employment arrangements involving three ATRs.
The only other RSEs who had workers with joint ATRs were Crasborn Fresh Fruit Harvest Ltd,
Bostock NZ, Kelston Orchards, Pick Hawkes Bay, Vinecraft and Vine First.
11
Distribution of single and joint ATRs
The distribution of RSEs and BE 1 recruits by the different combinations of ATRs is summarised
in Table 10. All RSEs had recruits on single ATRs and 55 (82%) of them just had workers
employed under one ATR. These single ATR workers accounted for 70.4% of the 2,011 BE 1
recruits.
Table 10: Distribution of BE 1 recruits with single and joint ATRs
Number of
No. of
Number of recruits
% of
% of workers
ATRs
RSEs
1 ATR
2/3 ATRs
RSEs
1 ATR
2/3 ATRs
Only single ATRs
55
1052
0
82.1
68.5
0.0
Two ATRs (1+2)
9
414
323
13.4
26.9
68.1
Two ATRs (1+3)
1
23
6
1.5
1.5
1.3
Three ATRs (!+2+3)
2
48
145
3.0
3.1
30.6
Total
67
1537
474
100.0
100.0
100.0
A small number of RSEs (9 or 13.4%) had a mix of workers with single ATRs and joint (2) ATRs.
Their single ATR workers (414) accounted for 27% of the 1,637 recruits with one ATR. Their
workers with two ATRs (323) accounted for just over two-thirds of the 474 recruits who had
joint ATRs (Table 10).
One RSE (Team Works Hawke’s Bay Ltd) had a mix of workers with single ATRs and joint (3)
ATRs, while two RSEs (Turners and Growers NZ and Vinepower) had a mix of single and joint
(2 as well as 3) ATRs. The joint ATR workers for the latter two RSEs accounted for just over
30% (145) of all the recruits (474) on joint ATRs.
7. What was the regional distribution of the BE 1 recruits?
Three regions provided employment for 77% (1,554) of the BE 1 recruits -- Hawke’s Bay (pip
fruit, 41.3%), Bay of Plenty (kiwifruit, 20.4%) and Marlborough (grapes, 15.5%). Harvesting
and packing crops were the main jobs for 61% of the Fijians, 88% of the Samoans and 71% of
the ni-Vanuatu who commenced work in these three regions between mid-January and mid-
March 2021 (Table 11).
Two other South Island regions – Nelson and Otago – accounted for a further 16% of the 2,011
recruits, and most of the Fijians, Samoans and ni-Vanuatu employed in other parts of the
country. Northland, Auckland and the Waikato regions, collectively, were the initial
destinations for 5.7% of the recruits, while Gisborne, Canterbury and the Manawatu provided
work for just over 1% or 22 workers.
12
Table 11: Regional distribution of BE 1 recruits by source country
Source country
Row Total
Region
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
Number
Percent
Top three regions
Hawkes Bay
6
511
314
831
41.32
Bay of Plenty
37
127
247
411
20.44
Marlborough
46
266
312
15.51
Sub-total
43
684
827
1554
77.27
% of row total
2.8
44.0
53.2
100.0
% of column total
61.4
88.3
70.9
77.3
Other regions
Nelson
8
67
122
197
9.80
Otago
11
113
124
6.17
Northland
5
48
53
2.64
Auckland
8
28
36
1.79
Waikato
25
25
1.24
Gisborne
19
19
0.94
Canterbury
2
2
0.10
Manawatu
1
1
0.05
Sub-total
27
91
339
457
22.73
% of row total
5.9
19.9
74.2
100.0
% of column total
38.6
11.7
29.1
22.7
Column total
70
775
1166
2011
100.00
Given that just over three-quarters of the recruits were on contracts covered by a single ATR,
the regional distribution shown in Table 11 gives a fair representation of where most of the
seasonal workers would be based while in New Zealand. However, the 23% of recruits
employed on joint ATRs could expect to be employed in more than one region and/or with
more than one employer during the course of their contracts.
Regional distribution of the 2019/20 returnees
It has already been shown (Table 5) that the great majority of the recent returnees (RSE
workers in 2019/20) were employed by the same RSE and were working in the same region
in 2021. In Table 12, the co-incidence of the RSEs they had contracts with and the regions
where they worked in the two years are presented in four groups (definitions below table).
13
Table 12: Distribution of 2019/20 returnees by different employer/region combinations
Same region
Different region
All regions
Region
SESR
DESR
Sub-total
SEDR
DEDR
Sub-total
Total
Hawke's Bay
630
44
674
2
16
18
692
Marlborough
123
1
124
26
15
41
165
Nelson
145
1
146
2
2
148
Bay of Plenty
51
3
54
14
14
68
Otago
23
8
31
2
11
13
44
Northland
21
21
8
5
13
34
Other regions
20
20
9
1
10
30
Total
1013
57
1070
47
64
111
1181
Percent of
regional total
Hawke's Bay
91.0
6.4
97.4
0.3
2.3
2.6
100.0
Marlborough
74.5
0.6
75.2
15.8
9.1
24.8
100.0
Nelson
98.0
0.7
98.6
0.0
1.4
1.4
100.0
Bay of Plenty
75.0
4.4
79.4
0.0
20.6
20.6
100.0
Otago
52.3
18.2
70.5
4.5
25.0
29.5
100.0
Northland
61.8
0.0
61.8
23.5
14.7
38.2
100.0
Other regions
66.7
0.0
66.7
30.0
3.3
33.3
100.0
Total
85.8
4.8
90.6
4.0
5.4
9.4
100.0
Employer/region groups:
1) same RSE, same region (SESR)
2) different RSE, same region (DESR)
3) same RSE, different region (SEDR)
4) different RSE, different region (DEDR)
There are some variations across the regions in terms of the shares of BE 1 recruits who were
contracted by the same RSE and working in the same region in 2021 as they had been in
2019/20. Almost all (98%) of the 148 recruits in the Nelson (including Tasman District) region
were with the same RSE. The lowest percentage in the SESR group was found in Otago
(52.3%) and this is linked with the fact that the main RSE recruiting seasonal labour there,
Seasonal Solutions Co-operative, has its operations in three regions in the South Island:
Otago, Marlborough and Canterbury. Seasonal Solutiuons also shares workers, on joint ATRs,
with several other RSEs.
14
The numbers and shares in the DESR (57, 4.8%), SEDR (47, 4.0%) and DEDR (64, 5.4%) groups
are all small and roughly similar in total. However, there are differences between regions in
these shares reflecting the multi-regional operations of some contractors (e.g. Vinepower and
Thornhill in Marlborough) and growers and grower co-operatives (Turners and Growers NZ
and Seasonal Solutions). There are also long-established joint ATR arrangements between
certain growers and contractors (e.g. Crasborn Fresh Harvest in Hawke’s Bay and Vinepower
in Marlborough, Mr Apple in Hawke’s Bay and and Hortus in Marlborough) that contribute to
the mix of shares in the four RSE/region combinations shown in Table 12.
8. Some reflections
The very limited opportunity during the 2020/21 financial year for RSEs to recruit seasonal
labour from Pacific sources, as well as the Asian countries that a small number of RSEs have
on-going labour hire arrangements with, will always be evident in the statistical record for
the RSE scheme.
Late in 2019 the then Minister of Labour, Hon Iain Lees-Galloway, had approved caps of
14,400 and 16,000 for RSE recruitment in 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively. The border
closures linked with the COVID-19 pandemic meant that recruitment ceased on 19 March
2020 by which time 11,151 of the potential 14,400 RSE workers for the 2019/20 financial year
had arrived. In the case of the 2020/21 approved allocation of 16,000, only 2,017 (12.6%,
including the 6 Taiwanese listed in Table 1) actually arrived before 30 June 2021.
The 2,011 RSE workers from three Pacific source countries have been an incredibly important,
but much reduced, component of the seasonal workforces of a small share of New Zealand’s
horticulture and viticulture businesses during 2021. By the beginning of September 2021,
when this report was completed, nearly all of them will have completed the maximum seven
months of employment allowed by the RSE special purpose visa for people from the three
countries.
By early August 2021, only 10 of the BE 1 recruits had returned home – two Samoans and
eight ni-Vanuatu. The great majority (over 99%) of these workers are still in New Zealand and
most of them will be given extensions to their visas to allow them to work through into 2022.
Visa extensions for these workers have been effectively guaranteed by the on-going
challenges posed by COVID-19 that face RSEs wishing to recruit seasonal labour from the
approved Pacific and Asian sources.
The arrangements for quarantine-free recruitment from selected Pacific sources (Samoa,
Tonga and Vanuatu), that were approved recently by the New Zealand Government, are on
15
hold at the time of writing this report.
2
The current outbreak of COVID-19 in the community
in Auckland, and a small number of cases in Wellington, has meant that recruitment cannot
commence until the country returns to alert level 1. Challenges associated with the COVID-
19 pandemic will continue to cause major problems for seasonal labour supply in New
Zealand’s horticulture and viticulture industries during the 2021/22 financial year.
Numbers recruited from RSE source countries will continue to be significantly below the usual
intakes between September and April in a “normal” financial year. The Minister of Labour
(Hon Kris Faafoi) has approved the 2019/20 cap of 14,400 for the 2021/22 financial year. This
number will not be achieved given that workers from only three of the 15 Pacific and Asian
source countries are currently approved for quarantine-free entry.
The total recruitment from these three countries in the last “normal” year for the RSE scheme
(2018/19) was 8,453 – 2,409 from Samoa, 1,807 from Tonga and 4,237 from Vanuatu. It is
highly unlikely these three countries will be able provide similar numbers for the 2021/22
year, especially given competition from Australia for recruits for their Seasonal Worker
Program (SWP) and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS). When the total numbers of RSE arrivals
between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022 are tallied, we can expect the current finacial year to
be another “exceptional” one in the statistical record for the RSE scheme.
Richard Bedford
Bedford Consulting
4 September 2021
2
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300372310/covid19-travel-corridor-to-open-with-tonga-samoa-
and-vanuatu--allowing-seasonal-workers-to-skip-miq. See also C. Bedford (2021) ‘New Zealand’s RSE scheme
struggling against COVID”, DevPolicy Blog, 4 August (accessed at: https://devpolicy.org/new-zealands-rse-
scheme-struggling-against-covid-20210804/ Date downloaded: August 4, 2021)