Exodus Around the World – What is the Cost?

Recently it has been reported that New Zealanders in the thousands are seeking jobs in Australia and perhaps elsewhere. The question is being asked, what does New Zealand have to offer to job seekers? It’s not just happening here though, in Ireland the Guardian reports that Irish graduates may leave the country in droves as well.

The demographics reported in the stories aren’t exactly the same. But a lot of those kiwi job seekers would be graduates looking for a job (I am one of them). This situation does highlight one thing in my mind though – how successful tertiary students are as a lobby group. While the “golden age” of having “free” university is gone, we still subsidise a large proportion of fees. They have managed to secure things like interest-free student loans. But like every other lobby group – no amount of money would really make them shut up and go away.

Apparently 24% of New Zealand born graduates live overseas, according to Jim Hickey quoted in this article. I say students are very good lobbyists because somehow we say that it’s okay to subsidise the people who are probably better off to go to university, only for them to go overseas for some other country to reap the benefit!

Of course, talk of a “brain drain” is nothing new. But I don’t think many people have asked – are we funding this phenomenon ourselves, and if so, to what extent and why do we do it?

A Possible Boon for Kiwi Academics Wanting to Cross the Ditch

The Australian reports that academics have been left off the list of skilled occupations for migrants to Australia, despite a shortage. An opinion piece in this paper points out that the list also excludes Mathematicians and Statisticians which are also skills in great demand in many places. If these reports are accurate, then it presents an opportunity for New Zealanders who want to work in Australia. If there really is a shortage, it will be worsened by the reduction in the number of people able to get these jobs because they can no longer leverage these skills to gain visas enabling them to live in Australia. So even though budgets are tight, more money will be on offer for these jobs. So basically these jobs with a premium are available to Australians with the right skills – or New Zealanders. New Zealand citizens will gain the benefit of having competitors for these jobs excluded.

One could even  say that this move is an indirect way of advancing the so called poaching of New Zealand academics by Australians that has been alleged by some.