The childcare worker earns A$11 (US$7.20) more per hour and was offered a relocation package of around A$17,000. Her husband Alvin, who works in mental health care, received double his salary.
“And it’s not just about the payment. Rental properties are much cheaper here, even the utilities are much cheaper compared to New Zealand,” said Valdez Gamalinda.
About 44,534 New Zealanders, almost 1 percent of the country’s 5 million population, left their country to live in Australia in 2023. The net migration loss, which takes into account Australians moving to New Zealand, was 27,011 last year, an 85 percent increase from 2022 and the highest since 2013.
The two economies have taken different paths to deal with the post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis. While Australia’s central bank focused on creating a soft landing for its economy in its fight against inflation, New Zealand raised interest rates more aggressively, leading to a double-dip recession that is expected to continue this year.
In New Zealand, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent in the second quarter. By comparison, in Australia it was 4.1 percent in June.
“We have a very weak economy in New Zealand and there are a lot of opportunities in Australia and of course the pay is very attractive for a lot of New Zealanders,” said Jarrod Kerr, chief economist at Kiwibank in Auckland. “It’s been quite a long and tough road over the last 18 months and it continues.”
The average weekly wage in Australia is 1,888 Australian dollars. In comparison, in New Zealand it is 1,586 NZ dollars, which is equivalent to 1,453 Australian dollars. This means that New Zealanders could earn on average almost 30 percent more in Australia.
Australia has long been a popular travel destination for New Zealanders. The flight across the Tasman Sea takes just three hours and New Zealanders do not need a visa to take up employment.
In the 1980s, a flood of New Zealanders into Australia prompted then Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to quip that the departing New Zealanders were increasing the IQ of both countries.
Australia today is conducting aggressive recruitment drives to attract New Zealanders to work in areas such as health, early childhood education, police and prisons, luring them with higher wages and relocation packages. As a result, New Zealanders are helping to address Australia’s skills shortage, while some essential services in New Zealand, such as hospitals, are chronically understaffed.
Cuts in government spending have not helped either. Since New Zealand’s new center-right coalition came to power last year, it has embarked on a massive job cut to rein in debt and bring the budget back into profit.
Since the government came to power in November, more than 6,300 jobs have been lost in the public sector, according to a rolling count by public broadcaster Radio New Zealand.
Shannyn Bristowe, a third-year nursing student in Whakatane on New Zealand’s North Island, said the struggle to find a job for graduates at a time of still-high inflation and high borrowing costs was forcing many in her situation to look overseas.
“Students aren’t sure they’re going to get a job. That’s our biggest concern,” she said. “The opportunities that are currently available in Australia are very beneficial and really rewarding.”
Although immigration reached a record high of 239,000 in the period up to October 2023 – more than twice as many as the 102,000 people who left – these figures do not tell the whole story, says Gareth Kiernan, director of the think tank Infometrics.
In particular, there has been an exodus of 25- to 44-year-olds from the country, and these losses are not being mitigated by the influx of people of the same age from abroad, he said.
“We’re seeing young people very focused on the cost of living pressures in New Zealand and particularly housing costs,” Kiernan said. “Young people who aren’t tied to the New Zealand housing market and perhaps not particularly tied to the labour market are seeing opportunities in Australia and that’s proving to be a real draw.”
Valdez Gamalinda, who is originally from the Philippines and lived in New Zealand for 15 years, does not believe her family will return anytime soon.
“New Zealand has given us good opportunities but it’s not the same anymore,” she said. “We feel like everything else is going up but not wages, so we had to think about where we could have a better life.”
