The purpose of this report is to establish and report on baseline measures for reporting of recent migrants’ labour market outcomes in New Zealand. The focus of the analysis is on the contribution of recent migrants to the New Zealand labour market, where migrants work and in what industries, the proportion who work or receive income support, and their earnings and sources of income. The study was made possible by the availability of linked migration data that is part of Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) and is the first use of this data to examine labour market outcomes for specific categories of migrants.
The main population of interest in this study is recent migrants to New Zealand. This population comprises people in New Zealand on a temporary work visa or temporary student visa or the holder of a New Zealand resident visa that was approved in the five years before the reference period. Recent migrants’ contribution to the labour market is measured against that of the total population of wage and salary earners in New Zealand.
Examining aspects of labour market integration is central to designing effective immigration policy and settlement services. The availability of linked data is a significant advancement in the area of longitudinal migration research, enabling a much broader picture to emerge of the contribution migrants make to labour supply in New Zealand.