A small town in New Zealand has a unique problem: they have too many jobs.
The town of Kaitangata, often shortened to Kai, is located in the southern portion of the country. It has about 800 people, and purportedly over 1,000 job openings.
Local government and businesses are looking to provide easy employment and housing options to attract new residents.
Some of the jobs available, according to the town’s mayor, are “real good paying jobs”, including ones at farms, meat processing plants, sawmills, and cheese and milk formula factories.
Land packages, meanwhile, are being offered for around $160,000.
Kai’s mayor, Bryan Cadogan, has emphasized that youth unemployment in the town is “two”— not as in two percent, but as in two total unemployed individuals.
Cadogan hopes that Kiwis— and perhaps those from abroad— who are disillusioned with the city life will move to Kaitangata.
He has both told his personal story of how he was given a second chance by the town, and how he believes that “so many of the things Kiwis value, such as owning your own home and providing for your family, have become an impossible dream” for the average New Zealander.
The recruitment drive for moving to Kaitangata is on. Only time will tell when and if they are successful in more than doubling their population.