Maybe you can't live on fresh air - but quite a few Kiwis overseas find they cannot live without it either. In the second of a two-part series, KATHERINE HOBY finds that money isn't everything.
They'll be back.
Kate Black, a 25-year-old Auckland computer programmer, headed off to work overseas and was back in just over six months.
For her it was a lifestyle choice.
"Money can't buy the fresh air you get here," she says.
Ms Black, like many Kiwis heading off overseas on the Big OE, was limited by the two-year working visa restriction in Britain. She did not need nearly that long.
She quickly got homesick for the New Zealand lifestyle and outlook. She loves the variety of outdoor pursuits here, and she loves Kiwis' "she'll be right" attitude.
Ms Black is confident her friends overseas will return to New Zealand to settle and raise families. No one who knows what a Kiwi childhood is like would choose to raise a family in London, she says.
"They all say they'll be back. I don't think you can underestimate the pull of patriotic fervour in the long run."
But New Zealand is not alone in its anxiety over the brain-drain - Canada has a similar tale to tell.
Politicians there have used it to push for tax cuts to keep young Canadians at home, and their media are in a lather about it.
The number of Canadians emigrating to the United States has reached a five-year high. More than 62,131 of them left the country in the year ended July 1, lured by better job prospects and big bucks.
A recent West Canadian University survey showed an astonishing 95 per cent of computer graduates headed to the US.
They are returning only in their 30s and 40s, to start a family. Sound familiar?
In an attempt to keep senior Canadian researchers at home, a recently inaugurated scheme offers 1200 research professorships with full support, says Waikato University professor of demography Ian Pool.
And Professor Pool says Australians are just as concerned about the numbers of skilled people heading overseas (although they gained 26,030 long-term Kiwi migrants in the year to August).
One New Zealander who has taken advantage of the stream of bright young things moving across the border from Canada to the US is Jason Rowse.
Mr Rowse, a 29-year-old marketing executive from Auckland, became disillusioned after being rejected for 33 jobs in New Zealand and has taken one of the Canadian jobs left vacant by the exodus.
If some Kiwis are being lured to Australia or further afield by the promise of career opportunities or a boosted bank balance, others say they simply cannot live their preferred lifestyle anywhere but New Zealand.
Hamish Marr, 22, is an Auckland internet account manager who returned last October from two years in London.
He has a visa which allows him to return to Britain for two more years, and he says there is plenty of work in London for those in his industry - he is confident he could have his pick of jobs within a week of returning.
But he chooses to stay here and says it is for one reason.
"It's lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle."
He loves the fact that many outdoor playgrounds - the beach, the bush and the countryside - are usually within a short drive of a city.
You can live an outdoor lifestyle overseas, he says, but it costs a lot of money.
Everyone seems to know somebody living and working overseas. Instead of being absent from the Christmas dinner table for a year or two, they might now be gone for four or five Christmases.
What's to be done? Must we accept New Zealand will never have the depth and variety of jobs some larger countries offer?
Some schemes for plugging the brain-drain have been proposed - and in some cases put in place - in areas ranging from education to big business.
A university and technology park - Lake Taupo University College and Southern Cross Park - sitting on the shores of the lake, aims to open within two years.
The applied university will specialise in four-year degrees with a technology focus, mainly turning out graduates for careers with multinational companies in the Asia-Pacific region.
It is hoped that graduates will leave with complex computing and entrepreneurial skills - and that they will use those skills close to home.
On the business front, one of Auckland's major law firms is said to have proposed incentives for those staying three years.
Apparently tired of losing highly skilled staff in the first two years, the firm has suggested a reward cash scheme for those who remain loyal.
At the end of three years' service, staff will get a $10,000 bonus and two months' sabbatical leave. Years four and five will yield similar rewards.
Saatchi & Saatchi's Kevin Roberts is the eternal optimist on the brain-drain. He insists that we should be viewing our young New Zealanders abroad as "ambassadors for New Zealand expertise around the globe."
He is one of two people behind the website
, which is said to be "a radically optimistic journey." It tells stories about New Zealand achievements and lauds our heroes in an attempt to promote patriotism and optimism and make those heading overseas think twice about boarding the plane.
In last Thursday's Herald, a group headed by Aucklander Richard Poole placed an advertisement lamenting the lost generation and urging political leaders to "stop [New Zealand] sliding backwards."
More than 600 people signed their names to the advertisement in support.
A furious debate ensued between those who supported the sentiments and those who disagreed that it was Government economic policy that drove them overseas.
The Business Roundtable's involvement in the campaign was the subject of a slanging match which reached as high as Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Mr Poole insisted that the initiative was all his own and was disappointed the issue has been derailed by the debate over political involvement.
At least, he says, the advertisement stirred up debate on the subject.
Some sectors of the job market seem particularly vulnerable to the brain-drain, although the problem is not always as acute as it might appear.
Josephine Wallis, chief executive officer for Geneva Health International in Auckland, says she has not been aware of a sudden increase in the number of health professionals leaving New Zealand over the past few years.
Interestingly enough, staff in the company's London office report an increase in the number of people recruited from England to work in New Zealand and choosing not to stay here.
Fears that the "Texan raiders" who visited New Zealand in January looking for up to 100 nurses would steal our precious young hospital talent proved unfounded, Josephine Wallis says.
She thinks the Americans might have had 20 takers, if that.
"From the health industry point of view, I don't think everyone is saying, 'Well, that's it, I'm off'," she says. "We are not tearing our hair out just yet."
Douglas White, managing director of WilsonWhite Interim Technology Associates in Auckland, says if recent figures relating to IT professionals are correct, and those leaving the country do not return, the cost to this country will be high indeed.
The financial attractions of Australia, the United States and Britain are strong, he admits. Those choosing Australia over New Zealand can expect to earn up to 30 per cent more in that country.
And, he adds, a qualified IT professional can walk into a job almost anywhere.
Irene Lynch, national manager of the Ministry of Education's teacher-recruitment division, TeachNZ, says there is no indication that the number of teachers heading overseas is increasing.
"It's an area we'll be watching carefully, but I don't think we need to panic," she says.
Back in Auckland, Kate Black is home to stay.
The money you can make overseas, she says, is great, but only for so long.
In no way does she regret dipping her toe in overseas career waters, but she says she is tired of wasting time when lifestyle is her key consideration.
"People overseas asked me why I was overseas when I could be at home living - really living, with a capital L,"she says.
"One day I found myself asking the same question.
"I was home in a week."
Herald 0900 voteline question:
Do you think New Zealanders are too negative about the future?
Ring 0900 700 50, then 1=YES or 2=NO
