New Zealanders are being laid off in growing numbers by Australian employers, new figures suggest.

Nearly 21,000 Kiwis have lost their jobs over the ditch in the past 12 months, research by The Australian newspaper shows.

The figures indicate that English-speaking migrants, mainly from New Zealand, are most likely to lose their jobs even though Australia is not officially in a recession.

The newspaper said its research had found employers were laying off workers on a last-on, first-off basis. Migrants who claimed most of the jobs at the top of the boom when there were acute skills shortages were now in the firing line suggesting skilled New Zealand workers who arrived recently might now be out of a job.

The number of New Zealanders moving to Australia has also slowed. Latest figures show about 1000 fewer long-term migrants arrived from New Zealand each month than they did a year ago. As of June 30, 2008, there were an estimated 521,200 New Zealand citizens in Australia.

The Australian said the number of New Zealanders employed in Australia's workforce had dropped by 20,800 to 304,100 in the year to May.

Full-time New Zealand-born workers across the Tasman dropped by 11,000 to 236,700, while part-time workers dropped by 9800 to 67,400.

However, there are some discrepancies in the newspaper's unsourced data when compared with figures provided by the Australian Immigration Department.

The department did not have figures beyond 2008 for New Zealanders in the labour market and said comparisons were difficult. But on its website it said New Zealanders working in Australia had an unemployment rate of 4 per cent in June last year, slightly less than the rate for Australian workers.

The Australian said New Zealanders' unemployment rate had jumped to 7 per cent. It did not break down in what areas of the workforce New Zealanders had been hardest hit.

An Australian Immigration Department spokeswoman said she did not know the basis of calculations but that, where New Zealand was concerned, it was hard to assess data because its citizens were not counted as part of Australia's annual migration programme. They are instead included in settler arrival and net overseas migration figures when arriving or leaving for more than 12 months.

In the 2007-08 financial year, 49,200 New Zealand citizens moved to Australia as permanent and long-term arrivals, an increase of 19.4 per cent on the previous year.

The spokeswoman said 6600 of those were professionals or associate professionals; 4600 were advanced or intermediate clerks, sales people, personal service workers or production and transport workers; 2300 were tradespeople; and 2100 managers or administrators. The rest included students, children and retirees.

LADDER TOPPLES

Zoheb Azvi's career as a corporate lawyer in Australia was just starting to take off.

After finishing law school and working in Wellington for 18 months he moved to Sydney in 2007 to be with his girlfriend. The job market was "booming" and he nailed a position with one of the city's top law firms within a few weeks.

Life was good for the 27-year-old. He was climbing the career ladder and, this year, married his girlfriend.

Then it all started to unravel. Work at the law firm began to dry up and rumours began circulating that job cuts were on the way.

"Even though the job cuts were expected, it still comes as a shock when it happens to you," he said of his redundancy in May. And it was not a case of last on, first off a senior associate with 15 years' experience was also given the boot.

Mr Razvi had since applied for about 15 jobs in Sydney without luck and, with help from his wife and his redundancy package, has given himself another two months before it is crunch time. Then he will start applying for jobs in other parts of Australia and overseas.

"It is frustrating, but you've got to understand the reality there are so many applicants out there. It's survival of the fittest. I am a confident guy so it's just a matter of being patient."

- THE DOMINION POST