The majority of New Zealand employers think Government and businesses are not doing enough to slow the brain drain, according to a Manpower survey today.
And New Zealand did not feature among the top-10 countries to work in, or the top-10 sources of talented workers, according to respondentsfrom the Asia-Pacific region in the Borderless Workforce survey of 27 countries.
Twelve per cent of New Zealand employers surveyed thought there was not enough done to slow the outward migration of talent, and 52 per cent were concerned about the potential negative impact on the labour market of talented workers leaving the country.
Employers in the services and manufacturing sectors were most concerned, Manpower New Zealand general manager Catherine Lo Giacco said.
Australia, China and the United Kingdom were considered the biggest competitive threat to New Zealand.
"While it's true that we need to do more to keep our most talented workers, we must also consider how we can strengthen our collective employer `brand New Zealand' to attract more talented workers from overseas to fill our current and future talent shortages," Ms Lo Giacco said.
In the Asia-Pacific region, employers in Taiwan (64 per cent) had the greatest concerns about the impact on the labour market from talent leaving to work abroad, followed by India (57 per cent) and New Zealand.
The least concerned were employers in China.
The majority of migrants surveyed (82 per cent) relocated to increase their pay, 74 per cent moved for career enhancement, and 47 per cent wanted the opportunity to learn another language.
Employers experiencing talent shortages in certain positions should be capitalising on workers' willingness to move and forging stronger partnerships with regional authorities and educational institutions in places where they identify potential talent, Ms Lo Giacco said.
