Optimism fizzles as job prospects ‘feel miserable’, uni student says

Thursday, 18 September 2025

When Charlie Cowdery started university earlier this year, he was optimistic.

“You look at it as like you're going to get this degree and you're going to get a secure job,” the first year student at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington said.

But as the year went on, hundreds of graduate roles from the public sector were cut, students struggled to fulfil their required internship hours and even part-time work to supplement their student loan was hard to come by.

“It just feels miserable,” he said.

A current campaign by Victoria University’s student association (VUWSA), Where’s the Work? resonated with Cowdery and the 18-year-old joined a small group on Thursday to deliver its petition, signed by more than 800 people, to the Government.

“No work, s*** pay, why stay? It's just really true to its meaning, like, why would you want to stay when there is no work for university students?” he said.

“I'm only first year but when you look at the job market and where it's currently sitting – especially with communications roles, you're looking at public servant roles, [but] you're not seeing public servant roles.”

He felt left with no other option but to eventually look overseas, with many of his friends scoping out Australia, even though he would much rather stay in New Zealand – especially given once he leaves, his loan would incur interest.

“There’s just plenty of other job opportunities over there.”

Last year, New Zealand recorded 74,600 New Zealand citizens moving overseas. More than half of them – 39,600 (53%) – went to Australia while about 39% were aged 18 to 30.

Statis NZ estimated that in April and May more people moved away from New Zealand than migrated here -- a net loss of 779 people during these two months.

VUWSA spokesperson Em Maguire said the campaign called on the Government to reinstate any paused graduate programmes, improve education to work training and bolster graduate roles so it was in line with a growing number of students.

There was increased competition for jobs in general because of cuts to the public sector and in Wellington – nearly 6000 in the last year, with students competing with people who had 10 to 15 years of experience. Maguire had heard from students applying for jobs with 400 applicants.

“Businesses are closing, so jobs are being lost, and that does include hospitality and retail.”

VUWSA president Liban Ali said it was short-sighted and irrational of the Government to force graduates to look overseas for work.

In light of Stats NZ report on Thursday morning, that GDP fell 0.9% in the June quarter – shrinking much further in three months than expected – it was even more important to look at how young people could contribute to economic growth, Ali said.

“But unfortunately, they're getting put in a position where the job economy is so grim that they're choosing to pack their bags and vote with their feet.”

The campaign had gained a lot of traction but he was yet to see any changes. The petition with 850 signatures was handed over to Labour’s spokesperson for public services Camilla Belich.