The much abused phrase "brain drain" finally makes sense to me.
For so many years New Zealand politicians such as Don Brash have bandied about the term with gusto. "We must stop the loss of our educated young!" they would cry.
While still at High School, I read seriously worded editorials in the Listener about skills shortages and incentives to keep the educated young in NZ and I would think, even with better wages, why are so many people leaving?
I can now tentatively say that I have joined the ranks of young kiwis that have decided to live abroad.
I've traveled a lot of Australia - from the East to West Coast and up to the Northern Territories. I have a good idea of what the country looks and feels like and although there are some crucial cultural and historical differences between NZ and OZ (and our accents of course) on a day-to-day basis, they are very similar.
According to an NZ emigration website I googled, there are close to 500,000 New Zealander's living and working in Australia! In 2001, there were eight times as many kiwis in Australia than vice versa.. Hmmmm, what's going on here?
I was already well aware that wages in OZ are higher but people in NZ would say: "But the living cost is much higher as well." So far, that doesn't correspond with my experience.
Moving here made 100 per cent sense the other day as I found out the wages some of the jobs get here.
The wages in Perth - to stack shelves at a supermarket are $20 Australian an hour. Australians get penal rates on weekends and less tax. Comparatively, retail workers in NZ tend to get paid around the $13 NZ mark. You are taxed more and unless you work in certain sectors you wont get extra on the weekends.
I was already well aware that wages in OZ are higher but people in NZ would say: "But the living cost is much higher as well." So far, that doesn't correspond with my experience. The cost of living in Perth is very similar to living in Auckland or Wellington, perhaps slightly higher. A room in Perth goes for between 130-170 AUD and food is almost identical.
How much do you suppose a junior journalist working for a community Newspaper in Perth earns? - $25 an hour. That's about 10 dollars an hour more than NZ when you factor in the exchange rate. With such an incredible disparity in wages, even when you factor in living costs, it's no wonder NZ can't keep it's young.
In Perth - wealth is very evident. It's a very clean, modern city with a population of about 1.6 million. I haven't spotted many shitty houses so far but then I haven't been to all the suburbs yet.
Western Australia is a mining area and the mines are ridiculous cash-cows. I've heard of guys getting paid well over $100,000 a year to drive trucks and even cleaners and cooks make close to the 100k mark. My conclusion: minerals (Australia) beat agriculture (New Zealand) in the economic stakes with a great big stick.
I'm not a particularly money-centric guy but in a pure economic sense - earning far more money to work in the same job, in a similar country which doesn't require you to have a visa - makes sense.
I wont be here for long. I plan to earn-save and leave, spreading my wings to the Northern Hemisphere.
I, like many NZr's have a nearly $20,0000 loan, which is low for four years of study. If I earn Australian dollars ($1 AUD currently gets 1.30 NZD)I can pay off my loan a hell of a lot quicker.
Getting away from your home country (wherever it is) is a great way to get a new perspective. Just being exposed to people with different goals, values and idea is a wonderful eye opener.
So far the only NZ stories I've heard are about the Commonwealth Games and Paul Henry saying stupid shit (which is typical).
On February 6th this year, at the Waitangi day celebrations at New Zealand embassy in Jakarta I met a 33 year old New Zealand guy called Kevin. Kevin had been away from New Zealand for just over ten years, living and working first in Hong Kong then Jakarta.
He said that Kiwi's had a "boomerang" culture. We go abroad for a couple of years and then are eventually drawn back to settle down.
With all this being said, I do think NZ has a lot to offer and I'm not advocating a permanent move abroad. It's just - for many, when it's so easy to shack up in Australia and get paid a shit-load more for doing the exact same job as in NZ, why wouldn't they?
Money isn't everything and certainly not the only reason NZr's should explore the world. It is persuasive however.
I just checked the Big Mac Index - which is the economists yearly gauge of each countries purchasing price parity - that is, how much bang they get for their buck. In NZ and Australia it takes just 14 minutes of average work to earn yourself a Big Mac, in Jakarta it takes 136. So both NZ and OZ have a lot to be grateful for.
Wealth in this world certainly hasn't been divided out fairly.
I do believe that NZ is a boomerang culture - I'm not going to be gone forever - but I will be abroad with the other roughly 650,000 kiwis for some time yet.
