New Zealand’s Massive, Unsolvable Talent Crisis
New Zealand is facing a massive skills shortage, the likes of which the world has never seen. A crisis so severe that the government may soon need to train and fly in talent by the dozen. The numbers are truly shocking: if you gathered all the missing doctors, nurses, teachers, and midwives together, you could fill nearly twelve Boeing 747s.
The Numbers Behind the Panic
New Zealand has over 5.3 million people, and we desperately need more teachers, doctors, nurses, and midwives:
| Profession | Reported Shortfall | Total Workforce | Shortfall % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachers (Primary + Secondary) | 1,250 | 63,000 | 2% |
| Doctors | 1,810 | 17,000 | 10.6% |
| Nurses | 1,250 | 65,000 | 1.9% |
| Midwives | 330 | 3,400 | 9.7% |
| Total Missing People | 4,640 | ~148,400 | 3.1% overall |
That’s roughly the passenger count of ten to twelve 747s.
For scale, more than 420 flights land or take off at Auckland Airport every day. The airport has a capacity of about 45 flight movements per hour. Our best air traffic controllers are working on the problem, but there may simply be no way to squeeze in ten to twelve more flights. And we don't want to give up the 15 minutes where we have our morning tea.
Final Boarding Call
So let’s not sugarcoat it: this is the end. The system is broken, the talent is gone, and salvation would require training or flying in over ten airplanes’ worth of competent adults.
Convincing them to stay once they see our salaries and house prices might be a whole different story. Some of our top thinkers are starting to suggest that we might even need to pay them more.
