NZ:Skill shortages remain concern for business -survey

Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly told the organisation's election conference in Wellington on Wednesday that 71 percent of the more than 2000 businesses surveyed said the education system was not meeting their needs.

He also said the exodus to Australia was a huge concern, The New Zealand Herald reported. "The economy is not growing enough high paid jobs," O'Reilly said.

Among other findings of the survey, 89 percent of respondents said that even with the research and development tax credits introduced in last year's budget they were unlikely to lift spending on research and development (R&D).

That result would have been skewed by the preponderance of small to medium enterprises among the respondents, which most likely did not do any R&D anyway, O'Reilly said.

But the strength of the response suggested there was an underlying issue and that the tax credit, while welcome, was no silver bullet.

Prime Minister Helen Clark had said Inland Revenue reported around $250 million of R&D spending had been written off (since the more generous tax credits came in), and it predicted private sector R&D spending would double during the next four years.