'Struggling in silence': Unique circumstances hampering migrant employment prospects amid tough job market

With jobless figures rising to their highest level in nearly 11 years, migrants say the lack of support and isolation makes unemployment especially challenging.

Demi Wang graduated as an enrolled nurse in Auckland in November.

She never thought it would be so hard to secure a job when she started to look in June, after needing to wait several months for her work visa to be approved.

Wang said she had applied for a wide range of positions at various organisations, including medical centres, retirement villages and cruise ships, but only managed to land one interview after close to 200 applications.

"All the emails [I received were] automatic rejections," she said, adding that reasons given to her included a lack of experience and failure to hold a resident visa.

Wang had initially applied for roles as a nurse or receptionist at medical centres, but soon started applying for any jobs, including sales assistants or personal assistants.

She even visited many establishments in East and West Auckland in person but still had no luck.

Wang said her husband had to work long hours to support the family.

The lack of a support network prompted a sense of loneliness, she said.

"I don't have any [wider] family or many friends here," she said.

"I only have two friends and they're both from my [nursing] class, ... so nobody supports me."

Former software engineer Leo Yang is now working as a part-time English tutor in China after failing to secure a job despite sending more than 1000 applications to prospective employers in New Zealand.

Yang started to look for a job in January 2025 after his company went through restructuring.

He decided to relocate to China after trying - unsuccessfully - to find a job for 18 months.

Yang had been educated in New Zealand, had worked here for four years and had secured New Zealand residency, he said.

However, market conditions were just dire.

In one rejection letter Yang had received, one employer said more than 1700 applications had been submitted for the software developer position - "a record for this type of role".

The employer said they had to be "ruthless" in the selection process.

"It's quite disappointing. I applied for quite a lot of jobs but didn't hear anything back," he said, adding that he also tried to apply for assistant roles at restaurants and supermarkets.

"I think the situation right now is pretty hard," he said.

"It's pretty hard to get even an interview or a phone call."

Pratishtha Purohit, who run Eduventurenz, a business helping migrants and international students to secure jobs and settle in New Zealand, had observed an influx of people coming for help.

She said many migrants were highly skilled, with training or work experience as such things as nurses, teachers and engineers - areas where New Zealand had skills shortages in.

Some of them came to New Zealand to study but failed to find a job after graduation, Purohit said.

Others came on a work visa with a promise of work but stayed unemployed for a prolonged period, she said.

"Our internationals are not just looking for jobs, they're now looking for direction, confidence and strategies that will actually work in a New Zealand context," Purohit said.

Migrants often lacked knowledge of the current climate of New Zealand's job market, she said.

"There are some people struggling in silence, which is affecting their mental health," Purohit said.

"There's so much anxiety and isolation, especially when they're staying away from family."

Being unemployed could leave migrants more vulnerable to exploitation as people might just take what they have been offered to survive, she said.

"I've had so many exploitation cases," she said.

"This is very unfortunate that this continues to happen.

"There are increasing number of people wanting help, but there is not enough support for them."

Purohit called for local employers to be better educated when hiring migrants.

She also wanted to see more support that would equip students and migrants with the right tools to succeed.

Jenny Wang, executive director at charitable trust CNSST Foundation, said her organisation had helped more than 500 people with employment coaching and placement support in the year ending 30 June.

She cited the labour market downturn as one of the main challenges, adding that language and cultural barriers often hampered migrants.

Stats NZ said the unemployment rate rose to 5.6 percent in the three months ending June, from a revised 5.4 percent in the previous quarter.

A total of 171,000 people were unemployed as of 30 June, a rise of 7000 from the previous quarter and 13,000 higher than last year.

Among these unemployed, 11.6 percent were Pacific and 10.8 precent were Māori, followed by Asians at 5 percent and Europeans at 4.2 percent.

Ministry of Social Development figures showed that nearly 218,500 people were on the Jobseeker benefit in June, an increase of 2000 from May, and up almost 2500 from June last year.