Figures released in the country’s Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment’s May 2015 quarterly labour market report show that around a third of the annual growth in employment came from the construction industry.
An expanding economy is credited with bringing migration to the record high. New Zealand gained a net 56,300 permanent and long-term migrants in the year ending March 2015. There are opportunities for skilled migrants, especially in the Canterbury region on South Island where work rebuilding areas affected by the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch in 2011 will be ongoing for some years to come.
Auckland has also shown strong construction industry employment demand, with new housing projects predicted to more than double over the next decade, with a large number of civil projects including roads, electricity and water needed to support the developments.
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Construction workers from the UK and Ireland are leading the way when it comes to moving to New Zealand. Employment growth and demand is strongest for highly-skilled occupations, including managers and professionals and skilled workers, with the list of skill shortages currently including carpenters, drain-layers, forepersons, engineers, surveyors and project managers.
The full list is available at skillshortages.immigration.govt.nz (link opens in new tab).
Immigration New Zealand’s national manager, marketing, settlement, protection and attractions, Greg Forsythe said: “Although the increasing jobs coming on the market are offered first to New Zealand residents there are many opportunities for overseas applicants looking to make New Zealand their home. The quality of life is superb, New Zealand is ranked as the number one country in the world to raise children in a clean, healthy environment where no place is more than 128km from the sea; the country is ranked the least corrupt country in the world and is listed 4th out of 162 countries in the Global Peace Index Survey.”
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