Jobs
Jobs are a factor under section 17(2)(a)(i) of the Act. This factor will support an application when new jobs are being created or jobs are retained (that might otherwise be lost but for the proposed investment by the applicant).
Direct new job opportunities are within the entity/property being acquired. For a typical land application this may include shearers, harvesters, planters, property advisers etc.
However, new job opportunities need not necessarily be provided directly by the applicant or the business it is buying. They might flow indirectly via suppliers or elsewhere in the industry. For a typical land application this may include freezing workers, school teachers, supermarket/retail workers, wharf workers etc.
The job opportunities must be in New Zealand. They cannot include jobs created in Australia by a New Zealand company.
Jobs that are being "retained" must "exist" and must be under a plausible threat of loss if the investment does not proceed. Applicants must establish that there is an actual threat to the existing jobs.
The OIO expresses jobs in "full time equivalent" units (FTEs). One FTE is a job of 30 hours or more per week. Jobs that are for less than 30 hours each week are expressed as a proportion of 30 hours to calculate a FTE factor (for example a 15 hour per week job is 0.5 FTEs).
Report
The OIO requires a report detailing the extent to which the overseas investment will, or is likely to, result in the retention or creation of jobs.
The report should detail:
- the number (by reference to FTEs) of new direct job opportunities being created, including a brief description of the roles and the number of opportunities in each role
- the number (by reference to FTEs) of new indirect job opportunities being created
- when the new job opportunities will be available, and identify any conditions that must be satisfied before those jobs are created
- any new intangible opportunities, for example whether the new job opportunities include a diversification of roles or improve working conditions.
