Last year, the net loss of New Zealanders headed across the Tasman was the highest for 13 years with job insecurity seemingly the key driver.
While headline unemployment is at 5.1 percent, the number of employed New Zealanders who want more work than they can get has jumped by nearly 30,000 in just a couple of years.
And university students in the capital now report job security as their number one concern, even over the cost of living. Visas for the UK - a typical gateway for the great OE - are down.
The destination for most is Australia.
And in a sobering milestone, Stats NZ estimates the number of people who moved away from New Zealand was greater than the number who migrated here, in the months of April and May.
In Wellington, the Victoria University Students' Association has summed up the jobs sentiment in the capital with a poster campaign - no work, sh*t pay, why stay?
Student Association president Liban Ali and Principal Economist at Infometrics economist Brad Olsen discuss.
Photo: Supplied by VUWSA
