Expatriates come home to dole

More New Zealanders are returning home - but thousands are returning only to the dole queue and a strong reality check when it comes to finding a new job.

Employment Minister Paula Bennett said 3000 of the 26,000 who returned over the past year had ended up on the unemployment benefit - more than one in nine of all those returning.

She told the industrial relations select committee yesterday that she was astounded at the figure, "a high number and somewhat of a concern to us".

She said many were highly skilled.

She believed many thought New Zealand was better placed in terms of jobs in the recession than other countries. However, they faced a reality check when it came to getting jobs.

"Anecdotally, they are having to re-focus what jobs they are going into - if they have an expectation of coming back and going into a job that paid the same they got overseas or is at the same level, some are finding that's certainly not the reality for them."

Department of Labour deputy secretary of work directions Monique Dawson said the tightening of immigration rules in other countries in response to the economic downturn was also driving people home because it was harder to get work overseas. She said the challenge was to ensure they stayed.

One of National's election-year messages was to stem the flow of workers going overseas and this week Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman issued a press release saying the Government was delivering on this promise - the net annual inflow of migrants had reached its highest level in two years and departures to Australia and Britain were significantly down as people chose "to either stay in New Zealand or return home to build a better, brighter and more prosperous future under the National Government".

Green MP Sue Bradford said Australia had soaked up some of New Zealand's unemployment in the past but its unemployment levels were rising. She said the Government had talked a lot about "bringing people home" but asked what the impact would be on New Zealand's own unemployment.

Ms Bennett said there was increased participation by women in the workforce.

" There is less part-time work available, but women are taking on more work to try and cover their partners losing overtime or having their hours reduced. It's not a positive news story necessarily because it means it's women who may have chosen not to go into the workforce if they didn't have to but have seen a necessity to because of the income coming into their household."

Ms Dawson said many tended to be older women worried about their savings or about their partner's income.

"I think there was a shock and people were worried about seeing their savings evaporating before their eyes, so we saw people returning to the labour market for a period of time."