A new international survey is warning New Zealand recruiters about added difficulties recruiting skilled staff.
Accountancy company Grant Thornton has surveyed 430 businesses in Australia and New Zealand, and the results show that 78% of Australian countries are planning to increase salaries this year, either in line or above the inflation rate, compared with only 55% New Zealand businesses planning to do the same.
The numbers are bringing back the fear that more skilled New Zealanders will choose to cross the Tasman, attracted by the healthier economy and the promise of higher salaries.
The survey has also shown that 36% of Australian companies increased staff numbers in the past year, against only 17% of New Zealand companies taking the same course of action.
"We're going to have to be very careful to manage existing talent... because those talented people have opportunities offshore. And what that means is, by default, we are competing in a talent marketplace which includes the salary levels paid in Australia," commented Peter Sherwin, a partner and chairman of Grant Thornton’s Wellington office.
"In the last few weeks we have seen two sharply contrasting pictures,” added Sherwin. "On one hand we have had over 2000 people trying to get jobs at an Auckland supermarket, while on the other there is a growing shortage of medical graduates as they head to Australia and beyond where remuneration packages are 30% higher than in New Zealand."
Alasdair Thompson, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association, agrees that the health of the Australian economy might hurt New Zealand businesses, in the sense that pay rises are less realistic. “The Australian economy, as far as developed countries in the world are concerned, is the best performing in the world."
