Australia's 'brain drain' of Kiwi talent to increase?

By MSN NZ Money staff

08:30 AEST Tue Feb 1 2011

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The number of skilled Kiwi workers heading across the Tasman in search of better career prospects looks set to increase.

Australian companies are set to arrive in Auckland later this month for the Oz Jobs Expo, offering "fantastic job opportunities and lifestyles", the New Zealand Herald reports.

The founder of the event, Jason Clayton, said his company, Custom Employment Events, had 24,000 New Zealanders on its books and expected up to 7500 would attend the expo.

Clayton, a Kiwi himself, said New Zealand would benefit from the experience its workers gained in Australia.

He said his expo would not poach workers away from Canterbury earthquake recovery efforts and he had cancelled a similar expo in Christchurch "as a result of what's going on down there".

He also said the expo in Auckland was not related to recruiting people to rebuild flood-ravaged Queensland and New South Wales, as it was planned well before the severe weather in Australia.

The expo will be held at the ASB Showgrounds in Epsom on February 12 and 13.

Do you think New Zealand's "brain drain" of skilled workers across the Tasman is set to worsen? Have your say.

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User comments

both my parents are in their early 50's and are skilled kiwi's both with masters degree's and moved to aussie 2 years ago, both have doubled their income in similar titled positions and wondered why they never moved years ago. life style is good (as long as your willing to put up with a few nagging aussies), as soon as I get my degree im moving over, huge job oppourtunities for my line of work at great pay in a strong aussie dollar, mate I want to get bang for my buck. not saying you cant make it in nz, you can, but for what im looking to do, aussie has more oppourtunities for me.

I guess the positive side of the brain drain for me is that I can demand more money since there are less and less qualified professionals available here in NZ. I'm in my late 20's and currently on a 6 figure salary but I worked hard to get here! Paid off my $25k student loan while on a salary of less than $50k so i know tight times but this taught me good financial skills. Now I have no debt and on a better salary and about to enter the housing market where even with a mortgage I can still live comfortably. As far as I'm concerned, the sky is the limit for me. I'm still young and hugely motivated to continue to work hard in this country and as the competition starts to dwindle here in my profession then the more valuable I become. The more valuable you are = $$$$ = less of a struggle. I think NZ is a lovely place to live and I have made the NZ system work for me.

As a recently retired hardworking professional I say that you CAN MAKE IT GOOD in NZ!! From zero I have managed to accumulate enough to live very comfortably - good on me. So go for it, work hard and if you need to go to OZ or wherever, then do so, NZ will survive without you OK.

how can NZ continue to afford paying for its criminals and giving them a better lifestyle in prison than alot of people in the community. Unemployment benefit should be cut and we'll see who wants to work then! If you compare the CITY of Sydney to the country of NZ for GDP it is IMPOSSIBLE to run a country on our economy. Sydney GDP was $213 billion whereas NZ was $189 Billion. Sydney beats us on population as well but they do not have an Army, Navy and bit of an Airforce to pay for! NSW population is lower than NZ and Australia's minimum wage is higher. Why wouldn't you go? We're thinking as soon as I'm qualified to move to Australia from the States.

Yes I believe it is going to increase. People's situations in NZ don't seem to be getting any better, costs seem to be going up but the pay rate isn't. I have heard of friends of mine thinking of moving to OZ as it's a similar enough living condition in some parts, but the money and different work experiences are the things attracting them. In the last year or two I have known a lot of people to move there for a change, and it's only going to continue. I myself am going to be part of the brain drain, with a degree under my belt, I'm planning to move to Japan for the exact same reasons as stated above. NZ just doesn't seem to have the same sparkle it used to. We can always move back when we are ready.

I moved to Australia 1 year ago. Back home I had a casual job of 10 hours each week no savings and a poor wage, study was expensive and couldn't afford anything while living with my parents. Up until this day I have not regretted moving over to Australia. I can now earn enough money on a part time job with the same hours and be able to afford a better education with the possibility of going to University afterwards and a healthier lifestyle. Back home I couldn't afford to go to the dentist, now I'm getting all four of my wisdom teeth out and braces. I don't miss home and will probably never ever go back.

Remarkable isn't it that we have a moneyman as PM yet our finances have never looked as dire. The "cradle to grave" social welfare system instituted in the 1930s is now an out of control monster. Slashing welfare has to be a first step, but governments don't have the will. Crazy isn't it that we fund the very beneficiaries who go out and commit most of the crime. That's money that comes out of taxpayers' pockets. We essentially fund our homegrown criminals. Why would you want to stay if you're a young person who wants to get ahead? Government ministers should stop listening to their overpaid consultants and start reading blogs like this. They're tone deaf to what's going on. And don't even start with Labour. My God, they just want to throw more money at beneficiaries!

My friends emigrated from england,he was a qualified plumber.Got here on the points system.That wasnt good enough for nz employers even though he had city and guilds and had twenty years experience.No they gave him a drainlayers certificate even though he had never laid a drain in his life.He is currently unemployed but is going to Aus.Just like my children have.They have money left over to enjoy life there.Here we just exist.The only thing left in New Zealand is the scenery and old people.We shall soon become the retirement state of Australia.We will have to be part of australia because we will go bust and have been sold out to China.

Unfortunately. the people who NEED to be reading these comments won't be, as they sit in their Wellington offices planning their next cost cutting move. My husband and I have lived in New Zealand all our lives and have no intention of staying here once our children have completed their college education( in the not to distant future) We both have professional careers and over the years we have seen the negative effects that repaeted cost cutting has had on service delivery. Realistically, Australia has greater opportunity with it's resources alone. While NZ is a beautiful country and will always be home we look forward to a move that will benefit us, as it has a vast number of fellow kiwis.

I look at my father who has paid a ridiculous amount of tax in a high stress job with little time to enjoy anything, then a former "workmate" who is more than capable at working but decided to have a 'break' from his photography class for a year smoking weed and taking acid trips then attending hour sessions on how to get a job (which also cost us). The national government now want to sell our State owned Assets to foreign investors so that they have control over assets which we still desperately need- After just paying out a Billion plus 250 000 000 each year maintenenance for trains we sold years before. While i was in Sweden earlier this year, I was thankful that Kiwis love our natural environment enough not to sell that off to mining companies where we would see little of the profit also. I came back to NZ with the biggest culture shock of my life having visiting 30 other countries in my lifetime. All I could see were Alcoholics, Alcoholics, Alcoholics. We are a mess.