Well I never: An interesting Immigration report
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Hubby's Views, Life in New Zealand, NZIS & Immigration issues
So fair play, reading through the two reports from Dept. of Labour has actually been interesting. Well written, with conclusions and recommendations, not just dry statistical facts.
Something interesting from INZ/DoL for a change. Whatever next, Winston Peter’s as Immigration Minister? - Well stranger things have happened!
Seriously, the two reports;
International Migration Outlook & Migration Trends & Outlook sound similar – and to be honest there really isnt much difference (but hey – its waste some extra tax money writing 2 reports instead of one.)
Both are well written, and for a change have dozens of citations. So you can actually check where they are getting some of their facts from, and that they aren’t lying through their teeth. I was pleasantly surprised to find most of the cited reports are publicly available too. So you can read & draw your own conclusions.
Anyhow, interesting things/facts/observations from the IMO;
23% of NZ’s resident population as of June 2009 were not born here – and that number has been going up. Here’s a table showing where that 23% came from;
If you look at the ‘working age population’ that 23% turns into 25%.
This means that more migrants are staying in NZ longer, it’s now only 24 leavers for every 100 new migrants during the 2001-2006 period. Which, as we’ve mentioned earlier, is actually showing more loyalty to their new home than the 40%-ish of Kiwi’s who leave.
The employment numbers are a little worrying;
Unemployment rates for immigrants are about 3% above the national average. Perhaps not surprising with plenty of migrants coming in as Skilled Migrants or on Work To Residence without job offers.
New migrants are paid $10k-$15k less than their previously resident Kiwi colleagues.For performing comparable work
And it ‘only’ takes 15 years for that gap to close! 
15 years! OMG, you gotta be kidding? Come to NZ, take a huge pay cut, and if you’re lucky, you’ll earn the same as your colleague in a mere 15 years. humpfhh.
Still this may have something to do with another finding. That there was no evidence from another Dept. of Labour report that migrants were choosing to settle in an area which had higher than national average salaries, or lower than national average unemployment. i.e. new migrants weren’t actually picking the geographical area’s with fewer people having the in demand skills. hmm, perhaps we were just a little strange that way. We came to Wellington because the pay is better and its where the demand is – mostly because its where the government is. Most migrants still gravitate to Auckland, where the wages are lower and house prices are higher. Take note!
Wowing an potential employer at interview is going to do you a lot better than hoping that ‘averages’ will mean you get a better salary. Clearly some of this report points to studies showing that isn’t the case and you’ll get less than the average of your new Kiwi colleagues.
Time to brush up the interview skills.
Of course if you bring kids over with you when you migrate, then they don’t have to work to close that 15 year gap. The study showed that 18 year olds entering the work place faced no discrimination over salary whether they were Kiwi born & bred, or had arrived the day before their 18th birthday. So that’s reassuring.
There is also a (brief) section on the economic impacts of immigration. Only based on one study mind you. Basically, immigrants are good for the economy. In ‘productive’ terms;
- Migrants bring cash which they spend (really?! – you don’t say),
- Pay more in taxes to Govt. than they draw in benefits (shock horror, migrants aren’t here to sponge off the state!)
- Migrants reduce production costs (read as: are forced to accept lower wages)
- Improve the competitiveness of NZ goods & Services, which helps exports. (same as above really)
So I’m not so sure that this study really does justice to the ‘immigrant’ contribution to the NZ economy. I wonder if they actually asked migrants what their ‘contribution’ was?
Related posts:
- An interesting Immigration report – part 2
- Immigration reports x2
- The Auditor General’s Report on Immigration New Zealand is out.
Comments
6 Comments on Well I never: An interesting Immigration report
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Avalon on
Sun, 7th Feb 2010 11:03 am
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Domestic Executive on
Sun, 7th Feb 2010 9:17 pm
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Hubby on
Sun, 7th Feb 2010 11:14 pm
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Sophie on
Mon, 8th Feb 2010 12:36 am
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Avalon on
Mon, 8th Feb 2010 7:43 am
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Hubby on
Mon, 8th Feb 2010 7:44 am
I would just like to point out – for the record – that we really do have lives 
Thanks for your point of record, I was beginning to worry! Seriously, I find these analysis intriguing and enlightening. keep em coming.
Cheers DE – good to know someone’s reading and doesn’t think we’re completely sad with no life! 
Ack! I don’t want *another* pay cut! I already had to settle for one when returning to work after the munchkin was born (settled rather than continuing to search because tbh, being a full-time mum was doing my head in).
This does make interesting reading though. Is there anything in there to say which migrants are more likely to leave? Mostly those lured in by the promise of WTR, I suppose..
Chapter 4 – Will I have to take a lower wage in New Zealand ?
Chapter 5 – Can I negotiate my salary?
Cos we think it’s a scam convincing migrants they have to (and can afford to) take lower wages.
Not actually always true.
(Hubby gets paid considerably more than most people at his company – which does not go down well with some of the managers).
Hi Sophie,
Thanks for the comment.
Unfortunately the only demographic info in the ‘leavers’ part of the report is about which country people come from. Which is where the rigmarole & headlines about 50% of Taiwanese Visa holders leaving NZ came from.
Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s the Asian (non-English as primary language) countries who have lots of people leaving NZ.
Work & WTR is a difficult one, since if you lose your job for whatever reason, you may be kicked out anyhow – potentially through no fault of your own. 
Still, why are migrants leaving NZ? would make an interesting followup blog post… Watch this space
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