Outbreak: New Zealand deported thousands of skilled workers, now wondering if it will last

Wellington.- Like many New Zealanders before her, Kate Moody sought to expand her borders by going abroad, not knowing if she would ever return to her homeland, which seemed far from her own.. But the International spread “And he changed all the calculations.”

Suddenly, clean air, natural landscapes and low population density received renewed appeal, as well as a sense of security in a country that completely defeated the Covit-19 with its strict controls.

The cat turns 42, and in February he left his home and the life he had built in New Jersey, USA, and returned to New Zealand with her husband, an American citizen. The cat is one of more than 50,000 New Zealanders who have returned in total during epidemics, a rare opportunity for New Zealand to beat back some of its talented children scattered around the world.

With this unexpected influx of returnees with experience and international connections, the New Zealand media is already reporting a renaissance of community and industry. Policymakers are urging business owners to take advantage of the “fundamental competitive advantage” of being a successful country in the fight against the corona virus.

The big question is how long that lead will last. From the outside, New Zealand may seem like a progressive haven, but returnees face some pressures, including skyrocketing housing prices, widespread wage delays and extremely low job opportunities..

Due to that and other factors, one in six New Zealanders left their country – a total population of over 1 million. Subsequent governments promised to find a way to stop this bleeding, without much success.

For many, the main motivation for emigration is the best pay abroad, especially in neighboring Australia. Another powerful factor is the severe housing shortage in New Zealand, which is affecting the current government. Jacintha Artern, And all its predecessors.

New Zealand’s average home values ​​have risen 19% in the last twelve months, now to about $ 576,000 – about NZ $ 800,000, 60% higher than in the United States.. New Zealand Treasury figures last Thursday predicted that house prices would peak in the middle of this year.

“From an economic point of view, this has not really changed anything,” said Shamubeel Egub, an economist at Sense Partners, based in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. “All the basic problems like poverty, short-sightedness, lack of housing, cost of living and congestion in big cities are the same as always.”

Some of the recently deported New Zealanders will leave again once the epidemic is over. Last year, with crowded beaches and festivals, the request for a corona virus-free summer was that the government imposed an isolation fee of more than $ 2,000 for a few days in New Zealand..

And those who want to stay longer will generally be clear about the limitations and challenges they face. “Going back to New Zealand for our family finances was a terrible decision because in the United States we were so good in terms of pay and housing,” says Lamia Imam, 36, who returned with her Americans from Texas in March. Husband.

The Imam says his return to New Zealand has always been in his plans. But this decision was accelerated not only by the epidemic, but also by the unresolved institutional racism of President Donald Trump and the United States. Black Lives Matter Last burial summer.

“I have a lot of faith in New Zealand, no one in the United States,” says Imam, who was inspired by Ardern’s leadership and has gained many followers around the world with its warmth and dignity.

Imam says she and her husband were willing to live in a small house in exchange for the “sense of community, security and ability to live at your own pace” that their homeland offers them.

At the start of the outbreak, the cat and her husband were determined to stay in Princeton. While she was undergoing iris fertilization treatment her American husband applied to study medicine at various universities and waited for a response.

“It is important for me not to get caught up professionally or psychologically,” says Kate, who has worked for the World Bank and Deloitte consulting firm over her years abroad. “I was afraid I would go back to New Zealand and lose that global connection with the world.”

But the epidemic dragged on, and by the time they returned to Auckland earlier this year, the couple’s reasons for staying in the United States were fading. Despite the low pay and lack of housing, they firmly believe that the cat’s husband has already begun the long process, which will eventually allow her to study medicine in New Zealand.

For people returning to New Zealand in the hope of finding work in the public sector, as the Imam had planned, wages would be lower.. This month, the government banned wage increases for those earning more than $ 71,000 for the next three years, and will strictly restrict those earning more than $ 43,000.

Kate, who was a public servant before leaving New Zealand, says the opportunity for such a low wage is “hard to swallow”.

What New Zealand is offering her now – a warning that led to the closure of the Order before the virus could spread uncontrollably – was what she expected from the United States last year, which had an arrogant response to the epidemic. That led to the disaster.

But he worries that New Zealand’s approach has not shown a clear path to world reunification. With a population of 5 million, fewer than 153,000 New Zealanders have received two doses of the vaccine, and only Australians and non-New Zealanders living on the Cook Islands are allowed to enter the island.

“If we talk about taking advantage of what’s happening in the world, it would be detrimental to New Zealand to have such a risk-free government,” Kate says.

Imam, who worked for Dell, a computer company in the United States, says New Zealand’s reputation abroad is actually better than it deserves.

But he adds that new government policies, such as paid leave for women who have miscarriages, have convinced him that it is worthwhile to return to the so-called “New Zealand program.” “At least we do well, and I want to be a part of it,” says the Imam.

Translation of Jaime Arrambide

The New York Times