The Government has announced that a series of job fairs will be held in capital cities across Australia to encourage more Kiwis to return home and Australians to settle here to help fill emerging skills gaps and support thriving New Zealand-based businesses.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, together with international employment event organiser Working In, will be hosting the first two expos in Perth on 22-23 November and Sydney on the 29-30 November. Further events will follow in Melbourne and Brisbane in the first quarter of next year.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says some New Zealand employers, particularly in the construction, engineering, and ICT sectors, are finding it hard to recruit sufficient skilled and experienced workers.

“We are training a lot more people in these targeted areas. However some of the companies are growing at a very fast rate as our economy grows, and we don’t want to restrict their capacity to keep growing,” Mr Joyce says.

“These targeted job expos build on the success of similar events in the United Kingdom and Ireland and will expand the pool of potential candidates for New Zealand employers wanting to grow their businesses.

“For many people Australia and New Zealand are becoming one labour market. We’ve donated lots of our people to work over there in the last twenty years.  Now with our economy doing better, it’s time to get more people moving back the other way.”

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse says, “The Government has been very successful in attracting new skilled migrants to New Zealand and we hope these job fairs will build on that.”

Mr Woodhouse says a six week campaign launched last month to attract New Zealanders, Australians and other nationals who have the skills New Zealand “tech” companies need is already paying dividends.

The www.innovationislands.co.nz website tells New Zealand’s unique tech story and highlights the diverse range of opportunities available here.

More than 80 companies are taking part and halfway through the campaign 1,360 job applications have already been received.

“The campaign has been a great success and I’m confident that this initiative along with the job expos will lead to a significant number of Kiwis coming home and making the most of this country’s growing economy,” Mr Woodhouse says.

(Source Steven Joyce, Michael Woodhouse, Beehive)