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The great Kiwi OE is under threat as the UK economy starts to feel the full impact of the global credit crunch. Swarms of young New Zealanders are heading home with their dreams of working their way through two years of travel shattered.
Gone are the days when Antipodean visitors could raise living expenses by pulling pints, temping and nannying. Unemployment in Britain has reached an 11-year high - 1.82 million people are jobless with about 20,000 laid off last week alone.
Latest figures from finance recruitment company Michael Page show the number of New Zealanders and Australians looking for jobs back home has shot up almost 30 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Statistics New Zealand figures show that in the year ended September 30 there were 3700 more permanent and long-term arrivals into New Zealand than the previous 12 months, which includes those returning from their OE.
And according to UK Government figures, the seasonally-adjusted number of visits by foreigners plummeted by 200,000 in the quarter ending September 30.
Auckland's Jennah Butt was among those caught out by the crisis. The 26-year-old office worker arrived in the UK in June on a two-year visa to experience life in London and travel around Europe but is already planning her return.
"I expected to arrive, get an awesome flat, get a good-paying job and be booking my first holiday a few weeks later. That was not quite the case."
Butt applied for scores of jobs but had little success. The weakening of the New Zealand dollar against the pound made things worse.
"I probably needed to have a bit more money behind me. I got here and couldn't believe how quickly my dollars were disappearing."
Rebekah Taylor, 21, is heading home to Christchurch after nine months of "carnage" in the UK.
She paid a recruitment agency $500 to find her a job but after several days of discontent in the only available position, left to work in a Welsh bar with her brother.
Taylor and Butt exhausted their savings and were forced to rack up credit card debts to survive.
Adrian Linden, from Britain's biggest job website, Reed, said they usually received more than 1.3 million applications a month but the jobs available had fallen dramatically.
Mark Cahill, managing director of recruitment company Manpower, said the situation was tough for migrant workers.
UK employers were cautious about taking on new staff, with more than eight out of 10 not intending to hire in the current conditions, he said.
The problems may force Kiwis to delay their OEs while they stockpile their savings and build up their CVs.
Fifty-something Christchurch couple Grant and Sally Newby are typical of older travellers who are enjoying the lifestyle once reserved for younger generations.
They arrived in London more than two years ago without jobs but soon found work because of their specialist backgrounds.
"We didn't know quite what to expect," said Grant.
"Fortunately we were semi-prepared for the expenses incurred in setting up, finding a flat, opening a bank account and the vigorous red tape that was applied to every facet of life."
Other professionals in their late 20s, 30s and 40s also said they had been less affected by the financial slump than their younger counterparts.
Wellington IT specialist Michael Murdoch, 29, had no problem finding work because of his past experience in the UK.
"The hard bit is breaking into the industry over here."
