Crime, the rising cost of living and housing affordability are just some reasons migrants are choosing to work in Australia or Canada, instead of New Zealand, a recruitment boss says.

He made the comments after
attending a job fair in the United Kingdom and was unable to find one person interested in moving to New Zealand for work.

Business leaders told NZME that our country’s immigration policies were cumbersome and there was an exodus of young people as they went on their OE or sought higher-paying opportunities.

However, Immigration Minister Michael Wood said it had received more than 10,000 visa applications from migrants who wanted to work in New Zealand since the start of July.

He was also actively monitoring the agency’s performance against processing times and said it was normal for young New Zealanders to want to travel overseas and there was pent-up demand following Covid.

Success Group Limited managing director Graham Rodgers recently returned from a job fair in the United Kingdom and said those attending showed zero interest in wanting to move to New Zealand.

He was recruiting for numerous positions from dental technicians to engineers and tradespeople.

Out of the hundreds of people he spoke to, not one was interested in coming to New Zealand.

Rodgers said they expressed concerns about the cost of living, availability of housing, crime statistics, and Covid restrictions during the lockdowns.

“When you’re talking to somebody at a job fair, and you know the information they’ve got is not correct, it’s very hard in 20 to 30 seconds to convince them they’re wrong.”

The company had also lost people who had accepted jobs previously but pulled out and went to Australia or Canada because of immigration applications that took too long to process.

Rodgers believed New Zealand’s employment market was not going to improve anytime soon.

“We’ve had clients who have closed the doors because they can’t get staff to do the work, it’s across the board.”

However, Alexander Tidy from Drake International New Zealand said in the health sector, where it had targeted candidates from overseas countries, candidates were happy to have the opportunity to come to New Zealand.

Migrants were most interested in guaranteed work, support in the transition and into the community, and help with finding accommodation and training for their qualifications.

1st Call Recruitment managing director Phil van Syp said in his view the “whole Covid lockdown hurt us really badly”.

He said the whole scenario not only affected visa holders but Kiwis who could not get into the country.

“That was not so great on our reputation, that’s for sure.”

He said while some people still wanted to move to New Zealand, there were other costs involved including :flights that are through the roof and that is even before they get here”.

Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said Australia and Canada were more aggressive when it came to recruitment.

“They offer better conditions, better pay, and a better pathway into their country. They seem to roll out the red carpet and we seem to be bumbling our way through. So we should be concerned.”

Tutt said another concern was the number of young people leaving the country when employment levels were low.

“We are losing people to those countries as well. Regardless of whether you are working or not, you still need people to be working around you,” he said.

“So we need to be bloody competitive when it comes to getting people back into the country.”

He said the region was looking for people to fill numerous vacancies from truck drivers and forklift operators to professional services, technology, and healthcare.

However, Tutt said New Zealand was still looked on favourably and the Western Bay continued to be a popular destination.

Tauranga Business Chamber Chief Executive Matt Cowley said, in his view, it was like New Zealand “is sending a message to immigrants that they’re not welcome, because of the cumbersome process”.

“It’s also the restrictions placed on immigrants, such as their inability to change employment from what’s approved on their visa.”

“I hope it’s short-term only. There is a significant opportunity for New Zealand to attract top talent over the next decade to improve our productivity and innovation. Other economies, like UK and Europe, have an extremely challenging economic future over the next decade or so. New Zealand’s medium to long-term economic future is well-placed as we continue to export to the growing Asia region.”

Cowley said there was also a worrying trend of young Kiwis seeing greater prosperity overseas.

The labour market was extremely tight.

“Public, private and non-for-profits were competing to fill vacant roles. The rising wages are largely due to the short supply of suitable candidates. Anecdotally, I’m hearing 14- to 16-year-olds earning $20 per hour serving and clearing plates at restaurants.”

Businesses were having to restrict their productivity or operating hours due to ongoing absenteeism and staff shortages.

“Businesses who have fixed price contracts are desperately trying to re-negotiate more reasonable terms,” Cowley said.

Rotorua Business Chamber Chief executive Bryce Heard said the consistent message from its members was they could not get good skilled or unskilled staff.

“This is a genuine concern because we have over 5000 people in Rotorua on job seeker support, so something is not adding up. We would expect an exodus of young skilled people post-Covid.”

Those who came home to take refuge during the pandemic would be ready to fly away again about now.

“The only short-term solution available is immigration, but New Zealand really needs to get its act together in the employment field if the economy is to recover and flourish. Some structural changes are needed.”

Minister Wood said the Government’s immigration rebalance was designed specifically to address the immediate skill shortages in New Zealand, simplifying the settings and streamlining application processes for businesses, while ensuring wages and working conditions are improved for everyone.

The new streamlined Accredited Employer Work Visa makes it easier for employers to hire and attract migrants for specified high-skilled, hard-to-fill occupations, offering eligible workers a guaranteed simplified, faster pathway to residency.

“A key feature of the rebalance is a focus on building the skills that New Zealand needs, as opposed to the old system which had a focus on large volumes of low-wage labour in some sectors. This is a shift but it will be better for the New Zealand economy, and it will reduce the unacceptable levels of migrant exploitation that the old settings facilitated.”

Immigration New Zealand had approved accredited employers to hire migrants for more than 56,700 positions.

Processing times were strong in many key areas with an average six-day processing time (target 10 days) for Employer Accreditation and an average seven-day processing time for Job Checks (target 10 days).

Work was under way to speed up the processing of work visas and it had invested in technology, Wood said.

“As can be expected with any new system, teething issues can result in, from time to time, challenges in meeting the turnaround times. I am aware that Immigration New Zealand is focused on resolving these issues quickly.”

We asked people from the UK why they moved here, what they enjoy about New Zealand and if they would still recommend it as a place to live and work

“We moved here in November 2021 as I am a critical care worker. I am a registered osteopath and have been qualified 26 years. We left a great life in the UK. Both my husband and I had established businesses and we have two children now aged 12 and 13. I got a job as an osteopath in the Mount earning $32 an hour which was far less than what I was used to but was happy to take the hit for the first few months as we knew wages were going to be less. Now I work for myself as our family simply couldn’t live on those wages long-term. I love my job. I love walking on the beach after work and enjoying the clean environment we have in New Zealand. If I’m tired or fed up, I recharge on the beach, what’s not to love? My husband Graham is an experienced American football coach and has been going into school voluntarily to coach tamariki in flag football. The cost of gas and electricity in the UK has increased threefold, costing up to $12,000 a year. Food costs have increased over 50 per cent so we are actually doing okay. We miss our whānau but no, we wouldn’t go back. We have been welcomed into our local community and want to reciprocate that.”
Kay Whyte, Renew Osteopathy, owner, Tauranga

“It is more of a ‘work to live’ ethic instead of a ‘live to work’ which we did in London where we couldn’t afford to buy a house. We moved here 17 years ago and we love it. Food has definitely gone up and it is still cheaper to shop in the UK… We recently had two friends over from the UK [one is Rotorua-born and bred] and they are planning early retirement to head back to NZ as things are bad over there, with winter arriving and the cost of electricity going up by 80 per cent. For many it’s a ‘heat or eat situation’ and the crime rate is through the roof. The other things we are extremely grateful for are our own detached house, two cars, and our own business.”

Sarah Stroud, business owner, Rotorua

“Today I would probably advise people not to move to New Zealand from the United Kingdom. If we were able and could afford it we wouldn’t live in Tauranga now due to high house prices and overcrowding in Pāpāmoa. I moved from Manchester in 1994 with my husband who got work in a hospital. We shifted to Tauranga in 2000 and we live in a lifestyle village.”

Margaret Clark, retired, Tauranga