More than 1,000 people a day are visiting the Marshall Liberal Government’s new jobs website targeting unemployed South Australians to get involved in seasonal work in agriculture, such as fruit picking or grape harvesting.
The new jobs campaign, Seasonal Jobs SA, was launched last week to help connect jobseekers with agricultural work across the state and boost regional economies dealing with the impacts of coronavirus.
Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Tim Whetstone, who toured an Adelaide Hills orchard today, said with South Australia’s borders closed to protect the state from coronavirus there has been a reduction in international and interstate travellers who normally take up seasonal jobs.
“The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact across many industries and Seasonal Jobs SA is a call to arms to fill jobs in agriculture to help our farmers put their quality produce on tables around Australia,” said Minister Whetstone.
“The campaign’s tagline is ‘if you need jobs, we need you’ and it is encouraging South Australians to give these seasonal jobs a go to help address the significant workforce challenges faced by our primary industries sector going forward.
“To have more than 1,000 people a day visiting the Seasonal Jobs SA website is a great result and with plenty more jobs available in the coming weeks and months we want anyone who has had their employment affected by coronavirus to look into it.”
Minister Whetstone said there will be a wide range of jobs available across a range of agricultural sectors.
“This year around 24,000 workers are needed to fill crucial agricultural jobs, so we need locals to get involved and get their hands dirty for the sake of our primary industries sector,” said Minister Whetstone.
“If you are looking for a job or you’ve always thought about getting hands-on picking fruit or being involved directly in agriculture, I’d encourage you to visit the Seasonal Jobs SA website.
“Whether it is fruit-picking, grape-harvesting, vine-pruning, tree-planting or vegetable-packing you’ll be playing an important role in putting food on the tables for South Australian families.
“By subscribing to the Seasonal Jobs SA website, prospective workers will be able to match their skills to new jobs as the seasonal work changes, as there’s a wide range of roles available and they’ll be different for each sector over the year.
“This website will also ensure we are keeping our regional communities safe, with a toolkit of information to help employers and employees understand their coronavirus requirements.”
