An American economist says New Zealand’s worsening economy and record migration losses now resemble those seen in parts of the developing world.
In a new video, Professor Richard D. Wolff described the country’s economic decline as the worst since 1991, driven by mass emigration, collapsing productivity, and unstable policy.
More than 128,000 people left New Zealand in 2024 in the largest outflow ever recorded. Over 600,000 New Zealand–born citizens, about one in ten, now live in Australia.
Wolff said this is not a youthful wave of travellers but a permanent drain of the nation’s skilled class. Engineers, doctors, and IT specialists are leaving with their families, eroding the productive core of the economy.
The attraction of Australia is simple because average wages are 26 percent higher and can be double in key industries.
The Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement makes it easy to relocate, and while 600,000 Kiwis have moved across the Tasman, only 90,000 Australians have moved the other way – mostly retirees.
Wolff described a “hollowing out” of towns and small cities as schools, clinics, and businesses struggle to survive.
He said housing wealth has hidden a lack of genuine growth.
Without change, Wolff warned, New Zealand risks becoming “a beautiful but economically hollowed-out retirement destination, served by a transient workforce while its own citizens build their futures elsewhere.”
Centrist Ltd.