Public servants say they want to stay in New Zealand, but large scale job cuts meant they felt forced to move overseas for work. File photo.
Photo: RNZ
Thousands of public servants are suffering a double blow – out of work, in a struggling economy that’s tipped to remain stagnant.
The head of a multinational recruitment firm says the Wellington job market is the worst he has seen since 2009, andit may be tough for some time with the latest GDP figures out today expected to show little or no economic growth.
More than 6000 public sector jobs are already gone or are proposed to be slashed.
And as the government’s cost-cutting takes effect, some of those affected have told RNZ they are battling the masses to get work, and have given up on doing so here in this country.
‘No point’ job hunting in New Zealand – public servant
A Ministry for Social Development staffer, who wanted to be known as Red, decided to take voluntary redundancy and finishes up at the end of next week.
But it did not feel voluntary, she said.
“The conditions that we work in are a push out the door, really.
“You might make it through this first round [of cuts], but we know that there will need to be more cuts, and we don’t know what those will look like.”
She’s off to Melbourne, as her type of work is no longer on offer in New Zealand. Over the ditch, she landed a job easily.
“There’s no point looking for work here… I knew in accepting voluntary redundancy that it meant I had to leave,” she said.
“The Victorian state government pumps a lot more money into the social sector than we do, and so I want to go somewhere where the public service actually has the ability to be useful in delivering support.”
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Another Ministry for Social Development worker, who also did not want to be identified, also decided to head to Melbourne after he learned his contract would not be renewed.
“As soon as I landed here it took me two weeks to be able to find a job,” he said.
“They appreciate my skills and experience as well.”
He did not want to leave, but felt he had no choice. In New Zealand he was competing against people with decades more experience.
And he had already met other New Zealanders in Melbourne in a similar situation.
“We wanted to stay in New Zealand, because obviously we want to do things for our community, we want to be around our family and friends that we’ve got in New Zealand, but sometimes when situations like this happen, we’ve got no other options than just to leave.”
Public sector cuts ‘more invasive’ – recruiter
Asher Wilson-Goldman was working at Let’s Get Wellington Moving, before the government scrapped it. He wanted to stay put, and had been on the job hunt since March.
One job in his field and at his level would pop up every week or two – and the odds were not in his favour.
“There’s so many people competing for them,” he said.
“You can be incredibly qualified for a job, but you’re competing against 20, 30, 40 other people who are just as qualified, and if you’re only going to interview four or five, it’s just hard even to get your foot through the door.”
But his partner has a stable income, and with his experience, he was confident he would find something.
It was others he worried about – junior staff just starting out their career.
“I think long term we’re going to see huge impacts from this, from people who would be really valuable lifelong public servants who will just leave, whether it’s leave the country or leave the public sector,” Wilson-Goldman said.
“I think that’s really going to hurt us in the long run.”
Robert Walters NZ and Australia chief executive Shay Peters has been working in the capital since 2009, and watched the ebb and flow of public servants under governments of different stripes.
“This just seems more invasive,” he said.
“And yes we knew that the public sector had grown significantly also over that period of time, but so had population.”
Under a Labour government there are typically more permanent jobs, and less contract roles – and the sands shifted the other way with National in power, he said.
But it was tougher this time, because both types of jobs were being cut back.
Some workers were even considering flying to the regions for work a few days a week, and heading home at the weekend, said Peters.
And for those working in specialist public jobs, like policy advisers, it was difficult to lift and shift their skills to the private sector.
“It’s hard to be positive about, because the private sector is also being impacted by the macroeconomic situation that we’re seeing,” he said.
“That’s why I think a lot of people that are coming out of government roles in New Zealand are looking further afield, whether it’s further afield in New Zealand, or further afield internationally.”
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