A Statistics New Zealand report based on the 2001 Census found that regardless of qualifications, immigrants here for 10 years or longer had a lower unemployment rate than New Zealand-born workers. Of migrants who arrived during the 1990s, 70% with bachelor degrees now work in professional, technical and managerial positions. That figure rose to 82% for immigrants with higher qualifications.

Maharey: "For most migrants, unemployment or under-employment is only transitional — in the long term, migrants have a lower unemployment rate than New Zealand-born workers. The government has taken steps to support migrant employment, including developing a network of migrant resource services and providing English language training. "

Source - NZPA 11 September 2004 "Businesses need to hire migrants _ Maharey".

Working conditions are another consideration for migrating skilled workers. Foreign doctors, for example, are still not finding New Zealand a destination of choice. The comparably low pay scales are a factor, but the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says New Zealand also falls far behind as regards professional support and education. Director Ian Powell: "There's very little done proactively to compensate, such as sabbaticals or the possibility for doctors to work in different units for some time. This leads to difficulties in recruiting." Although New Zealand enjoys a reputation of being a safe, politically stable, clean and friendly country, skilled workers are highly mobile, and New Zealand cities are competing for skilled worker with the likes of Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore.

Source - Dominion Post 13 September 2004 "Biting the bullet on jobs" by Kristina Greene.

Corrections Minister Paul Swain says the department will run a recruitment campaigns in New Zealand and overseas. A previous NZ campaign attracted about 50 new officers.

Source - Dominion Post 11 September 2004 "Prisons hunt staff overseas" by Martin Kay.

Nearly half the social workers in New Zealand are aged 45 or older and there are not enough younger people entering the profession. Tertiary training providers are having trouble recruiting students. CYF's Derek Howell says recruiting was "very hard going" this year.

The sector is not only short of numbers, but of skills as well. Just 19% of New Zealand social workers have degree-level qualifications, and most of these are not doing hands-on social work.

The shortage of social workers will be exacerbated as the proportion of elderly people in the population increases, which will put increasing demands for social work services. And intense competition for social workers is predicted to erupt between employers as the skills shortage worsens.

Source - The Dominion Post, 23 September 2004, "CYF fears `bleak' skills shortage'" by Leanne Bell.

Enticing New Zealand teachers living overseas to return home has also been successful. 392 New Zealanders accepted the $5,000 grant on offer to return to New Zealand to teach, up from 350 the previous year. Most of the NZ teachers were returning from England, Japan or Australia.

The relocation grant scheme has been criticised by some for rewarding people who left for high-paying overseas teaching jobs, while those left behind missed out. But the Ministry of Education argues that the scheme has been successful in helping schools fill vacancies.

Source - The Dominion Post, 13 September 2004, "Cash attracts teachers back to NZ" by Sophie Neville

Opportunities NZ Expo veteran Shawn Gilhooley, of Positively Wellington, says it is the New Zealand lifestyle that appeals to people in London more than anything. She says this was the main driver behind the 25 families who successfully immigrated to the Wellington region after last year's expo.

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson says the CTU would be very concerned if the issue arose in the trade talks. Wilson: "We've got hundreds of New Zealand construction workers in Sydney attracted by higher wages — we are trying to build wages up, not import more low-cost workers. The CTU is not absolutely opposed to bringing in immigrant labour, but not at expense of New Zealand jobs and industries."

Source — New Zealand Herald 18 September 2004 "Proposal for trade in labour" by Fran O"Sullivan

Winz' manager Losa McAlpine says the Pacific Wave strategy sees specialised case managers, who are generally Pacific People themselves, work with Pacific clients. In some cases case managers visit schools to try to prevent Pacific students from starting on a benefit, and they follow-up work placements to improve job retention rates.

Source - New Zealand Herald, 27 September 2004 "Programme cuts Pacific jobless by 36pc" by Angela Gregory.

Only one-third of organisations currently offer flexible working and many do not have a clear understanding of the benefits available to the business. According to the report, this lack of uptake and the high levels of mistrust are due to ignorance of the management practices and culture necessary for monitoring and motivating a flexible workforce. The report found that:

James Cowley, independent academic and adviser on the report, says that flexible working offers up to six times the level of return through the cost savings associated with less overheads, technology and recruitment and training costs. He says companies are locked into a Victorian-era mind set. Crowley: "What we have is millions of people being moved every day into little boxes. Organising people's lives so that they can get to work on time in an era where we have emails is ludicrous. Managers struggle with not seeing their workers and they've got to get over it because, in an era where turnover rates are high, they need to offer satisfactory working conditions to attract and keep their knowledge workers."

Source - Toshiba Website: 7 September 2004 "Australian companies mistrust flexible workers"; The Age 14 September 2004, "Teleworkers not trusted" by Stan Beer.

Many care providers are unable to train their workers to a satisfactory level, mostly because of funding constraints, high turnover, and poor training readiness in the workers. They rely heavily on part-time workers (fixed hours but less than full-time) and casual workers (employed as needed, with no fixed hours), particularly in the home-based sector. This was partly a result of the workers' preference for part-time work, and partly due to funding constraints. Very few home-based providers guaranteed hours of work for their workers.

The report's co-author Matthew Parsons: "These are people who are playing a very crucial role, often with inadequate training and very low status." This is at a time when New Zealand is expecting a 240% increase in people aged over 85 years in the next 10 years.

The in-house evaluations were designed with the help of staff from Massey University. They show that a significantly higher number of Project K students (91%) were in education at the end of the programme than in a control group of students (66%). Project K students also show major positive changes in attitudes and behaviour towards home, effort at school and relationships with friends and teachers.

This is followed by a community challenge, where students adapt the lessons learned in the wilderness to their local community and are challenged to explore the resources, opportunities and support available in their own areas. They are encouraged to pursue stronger links with their community by meeting with local figures and visiting organisations such as the council, emergency services and marae. They also undertake a project to "give something back to the community".

Towards the end of this stage, students set academic, health and fitness and personal goals to achieve for themselves within 12 months, and each student is then paired with a trained mentor for a year.