Recruitment challenges in NZ vary with changes in government policy, economic shifts and the make-up of the labour market. Public perceptions of industries also play a role. We have looked how trends in public perceptions in general are heading, and what drives these in a previous data release (here). This time we’ve looked more specifically at what people think it is like to work in these industries.

Our latest results show that the healthcare sector is, at the same time, perceived to be the hardest work and miserable, as well as satisfying and commanding of respect.

Agriculture/farming is perceived to be one of the most satisfying sectors to work in but comes in fourth as one of the hardest places to work. Our respondents saw the sector as being characterised by labour intensive work, disproportionately affected by climate related events, restricted by regulations and poorly supported by government. Interestingly, in a separate part of our polling, we found that 50% of New Zealanders think that that NZ farmers currently face too many government rules and regulations (27% thought they didn’t and 23% did not know).

Hopefully it is now time for a change.

Need to know an answer to a question? Research First can help. Get in touch with Liz liz@researchfirst.co.nz