New Zealand experiencing record levels of immigration
The record numbers are partly due to increased numbers of work visas and student visas and partly due to the strong New Zealand economy (and Australia’s weak economy, at least in comparison to previous years) which has meant that fewer New Zealanders are leaving than they did in the past.
As to the impact of the large number of immigrants has in terms of jobs and employment, the evidence is not conclusive. A report by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment found that the increase in temporary migrant employment in the decade to 2011 had little impact on the employment of New Zealanders overall.
This is in large part to do with New Zealand’s policy of favouring those migrants with skills of which there are a shortage here and to only admit low-skilled workers on a temporary basis (usually to work in agriculture fruit picking etc). Thus the cry that immigrants are taking jobs is generally muted in New Zealand.
An OECD study, also from 2014, says that while positive net migration grows total GDP, it had - at best - a small impact on economic growth per capita.
source: mercatornet.com
