Friday, April 3, 2009
Study offers solutions to brain drain

Pots of gold are not the primary reason for New Zealanders emigrating, new research indicates – and it won't be money that draws them back.

Adventure and experience of other cultures are main motivators for moving, not economic advancement, according to kiwis living overseas.

Kaye Thorn from the University's Department of Management and International Business, conducted a study called Flight of the Kiwi for her PhD thesis.

Ms Thorn, who will graduate on April 22 at the Albany ceremonies, asked highly educated emigrants why they left and whether they would come back. She received 2608 responses from professionals including doctors, lawyers, bankers, scientists and surgeons, who were level five and above on the qualifications authority scale with at least two years tertiary education.

In the questionnaire, respondents were asked to identify the relative importance of six key motives which resulted in the following priority – culture and travel opportunities, career, economics, relationships, quality of life and political environment.

“Overall, economics came third,” she says. “This evidence is contrary to a lot of what we hear anecdotally.” For people living in Britain (half the respondents), cultural and travel opportunities was the top reason at 36.5 per cent, with career second at 22.6 per cent and economics third at 18.6 per cent.

For those in Australia (21 per cent of respondents), more than 30 per cent of people said career was the driver, with economics second at 21.2 per cent and quality of life third at 17.3 per cent.

Ms Thorn says some motives were very specific. “Some people were keen to meet others in a larger gay community, one person wanted to find a Jewish partner and another woman said there was a man drought so she had left for London,” she says. “The shortage of single men has been recognised in Auckland,” she says. “But this is the first time it has been raised as a motive for leaving.”

Just over a third (35 per cent) of respondents say they plan to be back in New Zealand within five years, the main reasons being children’s education, retirement or because they anticipated having sufficient financial savings by then. Forty-three per cent expected to still be in the same country and 22 per cent in another country.

For younger people, student loans are major issue. “In the group of 35 year olds and under, 44 per cent said the need to earn enough to pay back student loans quickly and be able to get on with their lives was a motive for leaving,” Ms Thorn says.

She says while the Government’s recent announcement of a voluntary repayment bonus may result in New Zealanders returning sooner, it is unlikely to stop the movement abroad for higher incomes and the associated ability to pay back loans sooner.

Ms Thorn suggests the Government could address that issue by writing off a proportion of a student loan for each year someone works in New Zealand, so that New Zealand can benefit from the investment made in their education.

The economic crisis appears to have resulted in a slowing of the movement of New Zealanders overseas, particularly to Australia.

Ms Thorn anticipates that departures to Britain may also decline over the next few years, as people delay their OE until the casual employment situation there improves.

“After that, however, I would expect that New Zealanders going abroad would again increase,” she says.

“There is very little a government can do to prevent that mobility, but perhaps the Government could consider creating a cultural visa that allows a person to travel and or work overseas for up to two years with their job held open and appropriate recognition for their international experience on their return. Again, this could result in benefits to New Zealand”.

Ms Thorn says overall she was touched by the emotion in the responses to the survey. “What came through really strongly was the love for New Zealand – some of the responses were very moving. These people clearly love New Zealand and miss living in this country. They spoke about rugby, wine and yachting and the lifestyle they never appreciated when they were here.”

ENDS

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