KEY POINTS:
New Zealand businesses are still among the most worried in the world about a shortage of skilled workers, according to the latest findings of an international survey.
"This is the second year in a row that the problem of the availability of a skilled workforce has been cited as the top constraint on the ability of New Zealand companies to expand their business," said Peter Sherwin, New Zealand spokesman for Grant Thornton, the accounting and business consultancy firm behind the research.
"The disturbing factor is that it continues to climb as a worry for New Zealand firms. In the latest survey, 61 per cent of the New Zealand businesses surveyed said it was a major concern - last year the figure was 60 per cent and the year before that it was 38 per cent."
Australia was third most concerned on this subject, with 58 per cent of businesses worried about the shortage of skilled staff. The global average was 37 per cent.
"It seems that while there has been a lot of focus on the drain of New Zealand skills to Australia, our transTasman neighbours have an almost equal issue with lack of workers," said Mr Sherwin. "Both countries are bleeding."
Regulations and red tape, at one time consistently considered the biggest barrier to business expansion, is now consistently only the second biggest worry for New Zealand businesses. Some 47 per cent of those surveyed ranked it in the top bracket alongside workforce availability, compared with only 32 per cent in Australia and a global average of 31 per cent.
* The report, conducted by management consultants Grant Thornton, surveyed more than 7,500 owners of medium sized businesses in 34 countries. 150 New Zealand businesses took part.
