Australia officially the happiest country in the world

Australia is the world’s happiest nation according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Australia led Norway and the US in a survey of the 36 OECD member countries, the Paris-based group’s Better Life Index showed, Bloomberg reported. It is the second year in a row the index shows Australia ranked near or [...]

Air New Zealand Charity Auction

Dinner with some All Blacks in London, a signed Snow Patrol guitar and the chance to star in your very own Comic artwork with the Justice League are among 30 auction items up for grabs in Air New Zealand’s 30th anniversary eBay charity auction. To celebrate 30 years of flying between London and Los Angeles, [...]

Jobs growth in Christchurch like Australia’s mining boom

Forecast employment growth in Christchurch is being likened to Western Australia’s mining boom. It comes as the city starts rebuilding with increasing demand for the likes of quantity surveyors, residential and commercial project managers. Statistics from Trade Me Jobs show jobs in Canterbury have risen 81 percent year on year, compared to just three and [...]

Australian employers look abroad for workers

A new report has shown that 35% of Australian employers are looking overseas to tackle their skill shortages. ManpowerGroup Australia’s 2011 Borderless Workforce research indicates that overseas talent is of great importance in the ‘engineers’ and ‘skilled manual trade’ categories – with a large number of positions being filled by UK migrants. Managing director Lincoln Crawley, [...]

Record number of 457 visa holders in Australia

A record 88,590 people are in Australia on business-sponsored 457 visas as the country turns to overseas labour to solve its skills shortages. The visas allow employers to recruit overseas for highly skilled jobs that pay more than $49,000 when they can’t find Australians who can do the work. A report by the Herald Sun [...]