Graduate Nurse Job Guarantee

How it works

• Every eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurse will be offered a role through the existing Advanced Choice of Employment (ACE) and primary care employment schemes.
• Jobs will be offered at graduation, rather than staggered throughout the year, and will be for at least 0.8 full-time equivalent (FTE).
• The policy means all of the estimated 2,400 nurses who graduate a year will get a job offer. Both registered and enrolled nurses are eligible.
• Labour will double funding for graduate nursing roles in primary and community healthcare.

Why it matters

New Zealand needs more nurses in our hospitals, primary care, aged care, community services and rural areas.

But under National, we're training nurses here only for too many of them to find there's no job for them after they graduate.

National has made it harder to hire the nurses our hospitals need. They've had a hiring freeze in place, and in two years, just 54 nurses have been added to the public health system.

In 2025, fewer than half of graduating nurses were initially offered jobs through the ACE programme. Some waited months for an offer, while others were offered less than 0.8 FTE.

When hospitals can't hire the nurses they need, there are fewer nurses on the ward, more pressure on the staff who are there, and patients wait longer for care.

Nurses who have been trained in New Zealand, and want to work in our communities, have no other option but to look overseas for work.

We can't afford another three years of National holding our health system back.

A smart investment

Backing graduate nurses means more nurses caring for patients, less pressure on existing staff, and a better start for people beginning their careers.

The Graduate Nurse Job Guarantee means all of the estimated 2,400 nurses who graduate a year will get a job offer.

It will apply to graduates sitting their State Final examination from July 2026 onwards. From 2027, eligible graduates will be offered roles on graduation.

Eligibility and cost

Job offers will depend on graduates passing their State Final examination and required pre-employment checks.

Graduates must also be a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident, returning resident visa holder or Australian citizen, and have completed their nursing qualification at a New Zealand tertiary institution.

The cost of the Graduate Nurse Job Guarantee is $525 million. It will be funded from health cost-pressure funding.

Nursing numbers under National, by district

Under National, recruitment has been restricted across the country. In some areas, including Auckland and Counties Manukau, the number of nurses has actually fallen. Jobs under the Graduate Nurse Job Guarantee will be available across New Zealand, in hospitals, primary care and community healthcare, helping fill these gaps.