The upbeat news article ‘New Zealand seeks engineers to fill the gap’(BSj/09/04) needs to be put into perspective, otherwise you may be in danger of encouraging some of your more impetuous readers to believe there are attractive and secure employment prospects in New Zealand.

With the notable exception of politicians, civil servants, sheep shearers and taxi drivers, New Zealand faces shortages in almost every other human commodity.

There are various explanations for this situation, but the root cause of this problem is that the entire population is too small to sustain skilled people in a challenging and secure well-paid environment. New Zealand’s most educated people go overseas to gain the experience they need to develop themselves, because, sadly, there are few opportunities for them here.

Ron Cookson, MCIBSE, Wellington, New Zealand

Source

Building Sustainable Design