NZ seeks to attract 50,000 workers from Australia

The New Zealand government is conducting jobs fairs across Australia with the aim of attracting up to 50,000 workers for industries including IT.

The government conducted the Sydney New Zealand Job Expo on Sunday and plans to conduct similar events in Brisbane and Melbourne early next year. A Perth expo was conducted last month.

Around 35 Kiwi employers were represented at the Sydney fair, including ICT providers Datacom and Fiserv and online noticeboard TradeMe.

Minister for Economic Development, Skills and Employment Steven Joyce said the country is seeking to fill skills gaps in the IT, engineering, healthcare, construction and trades sectors.

“The trans-Tasman labour market has seen many Kiwis move to Australia over the last 20 years to take advantage of a range of job opportunities. The time is right for them to consider returning,” he said.

“With unemployment dropping and strong economic growth, New Zealand needs skilled workers to ensure our businesses can continue to expand.”

Employers are attempting to attract both expatriates and Australian citizens, in a push to address the ‘brain drain’ that leads skilled New Zealanders to seek employment overseas.

Around 1600 job seekers attended the debut show in Perth and around half of these were Australians or workers from other markets besides New Zealand.

Image courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center under CC