NZ faces tough competition for migrants

New Zealand will face tough competition from other countries in a worldwide shortage of skilled labour that is only going to get worse, say immigration experts.

The Department of Labour told an immigration conference this year that 70 million people would retire in OECD countries over the next 25 years to be replaced by just five million workers.

Paul Spoonley, a Massey University professor of sociology, told the Herald the loss of working age populations was going to be enormous in some countries.

The United States was forecasting a shortage of seven to 10 million workers within 20 years, he said.

Professor Spoonley said that in New Zealand the fertility rate of 1.9 was well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per childbearing-aged women.

The country was going to have to compete to attract skilled workers with other countries such as Australia and Canada.

"New Zealand is already struggling to keep up as regards salary levels and the competition is only going to increase for all advanced economies."

But Professor Spoonley said New Zealand sent mixed messages to countries such as China and India, where most future skilled workers would have to be recruited from. Some English language requirements had been perceived as racist.

Professor Spoonley compared the relatively high standard of English required here with Canada, which spends about $100 million a year on teaching English after immigrants arrive. "Other countries will compensate for non-English speakers."

Some New Zealand employers still struggled to accept skilled migrants as part of the labour force, he said.

Alisdair Thompson, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association, agreed New Zealand had to work hard to encourage skilled people to settle here.

New Zealand had a low standard of living compared with many OECD countries and wages here were 40 per cent lower than in Australia, he said.

Mr Thompson thought the Government had moved further and further in the right direction in the last six years.

He believed the Immigration Service had done a great job especially with the accreditation of some employers to directly recruit workers.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said the country needed a "nimble policy" to ensure it kept up with the required skills.

He wanted to see more political consensus around immigration to create certainty for the business sector.

While such consensus was building around skilled migrants, the wider debate and discomfort about other elements of immigration were getting in the way, he said.

Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett praised Labour for achieving a good matching of skills to business demands, but did not think National was sending the right message.

"New Zealanders tend to forget migrants have a choice."