Australian jobs are increasingly being offshored to New Zealand, with one call centre operator saying moving operations across the Tasman saves 30 per cent in labour costs.
In the past two years, about a dozen well-known companies, including Woolworths, ANZ and Fairfax Media (owner of this publication) have moved more than 1000 white-collar jobs to New Zealand to cut costs.
Justin Tippett, chief commercial officer of CallActive, runs a 1300-seat call centre in East Bentleigh that conducts customer service for leading Australian brands, and the company is opening a new operation in Wellington. It's not offshoring, he says, but ''near-shoring''.
''New Zealanders are like our cousins - a little bit different but you still love them. Culturally, language, all of that stuff is still the same, but you are saving about 30 per cent," says Mr Tippett.
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Awards were abolished in 1991, making work far more precarious.
About two-thirds of the workforce is now casual, on a contract, or in a non-permanent job. As well as cheaper labour costs, New Zealand's dollar is 87? to Australia's.
The country's minimum wage for a 38-hour week is $522, versus $622 in Australia. Compulsory superannuation payments are at 3 per cent to Australia's 9 per cent.
And New Zealand's economy is on the rise, with unemployment at 6.2 per cent and falling. Australia's is 5.7 per cent and climbing.
Food giants like Heinz and McCain, and cigarette maker Imperial Tobacco have recently moved hundreds of manufacturing jobs to New Zealand from Victoria and Tasmania, in search of cheaper wages.
Wages, the International Labour Organisation estimated in 2008, were up to $US15 an hour cheaper.
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