NZ graduates are being pushed, not pulled, to Australia

2026-03-02 - 02:17

Analysis: For a chunk of New Zealand graduates headed across the Tasman, the move is less about spreading their wings and more a means of survival. Throughout interviews for my recent story about our Australian exodus, jobs came up often; most often in the context of graduate or early-career roles, with interviewees speaking of New Zealand’s comparative lack of opportunity. In search of evidence to corroborate this opportunity gap, I spoke with recruitment agencies operating in both countries and found Seek senior economist Dr Blair Chapman, whose latest data indicates that the early-career jobs market is indeed more bountiful across the ditch. Seek is finalising research on the availability of graduate opportunities across the two markets, which will be published in the coming weeks. Chapman has seen a decline in graduate job ads as a share of total job ads across the board, but notes the decline has been sharper in New Zealand. “Since peaking in 2023, we have seen a decline in graduate job ads as a share of total job ads on Seek in both New Zealand and Australia. This reflects the loosening of both labour markets since then, with a slowdown in labour demand alongside the slowing of both economies following