The Employment Minister says job losses in New Zealand may lead to the country losing some of its "best and brightest", but it was part of "the realities of a recession".
It's a comment Labour leader Chris Hipkins has called "disgraceful".
It comes as New Zealand Post today confirmed its plans to lay off hundreds of staff over the coming years as mail volumes decline.
Hundreds of job losses are also expected in the public service, along with the media sector.
Minister of Social Development Louise Upston said today while job losses concerned her, they were to be expected in a recession.
"We're seeing it in a number of different businesses of different sizes ... I feel for anyone who's lost their job recently."
Louise Upston's comments come as posties become the latest casualties of the tough economic situation. (Source: 1News)
Asked if that could mean people fled overseas, she said there would be a "range of options".
"I suspect there will be some that look overseas for alternatives.
"[A brain drain] is a possibility. Unfortunately, Treasury have forecast Jobseeker numbers to go up with the peak being January next year.
"People who are in that set of circumstances — and I really feel for them — have to make some tough choices and for some, that may well mean that we lose a range of people including some of our best and brightest offshore," Upston said.
"It's challenging and unfortunately the realities of a recession mean that there will be business and organisations that have to reduce their staff numbers, and then it's for those individuals and their families to make tough choices about what they do best."
Louise Upston says the "best and brightest" leaving for offshore is part of the reality of a recession, but Chris Hipkins says her comments are a "disgrace". (Source: 1News)
Asked what the Government could do to prevent it, Upston said the first priority was to deal with the cost of living crisis, then rebuild the economy.
"If people have confidence that we are on the right track and the economy is rebuilding then hopefully fewer people will make that decision to go offshore."
She said the economy was where it was mostly due to the previous Labour government.
Govt's stance 'pretty disgraceful' - Hipkins
Hipkins said the Government's stance was "pretty disgraceful".
"To see a senior government minister predicting that we're going to have a brain drain and effectively shrugging their shoulders and saying, 'Oh, well, that's just likely to happen, and that would be a rational choice on the part of the people leaving the country', is pretty disgraceful really."
"The Government's job is to make New Zealand a place where New Zealanders want to live and work and to stay. A Government minister saying that they know that their policies are going to result in people leaving the country and that they're not going to do anything about it, that's just wrong."
Hipkins said the Government had choices and if they were projecting an increase in unemployment and "simply suddenly shrugging their shoulders" and "saying 'Oh, we can't do anything about that'", that was incorrect.
"They can do things about that. They're choosing not to.
"Louise Upston is now effectively waving the white flag and saying unemployment is going to go up, people are going to leave the country as a result, and the Government's okay with it — they shouldn't be okay with that."
He said Labour's track record on the economy spoke for itself.
"We kept New Zealanders in work during some of the toughest economic circumstances that the country has faced in a generation, and as a result, we saw people staying in the country."
Green Party Social Development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said Upston was both accepting there would be more people on a benefit from job cuts while also lowering benefit increases.
He said that was "effectively condemning a whole generation of people living below the poverty line".
He said a social safety net "that allows people to live with dignity" could prevent people from leaving New Zealand.
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