Why migrants make good Kiwis

The NZ Initiative has a very useful report looking at the positive impact of migrants on New Zealand. Some highlights:

• Immigrants are less likely to claim a benefit, more likely to be employed, and their children have better education outcomes than native born New Zealanders
• Relatively little ethnic or migrant clustering
• Migrants contribute to job growth by increasing demand for local goods and services
• Research into the effects of temporary migration in the decade to 2011 found a positive effect on the earnings and employment of New Zealanders. This may be because migrants fill jobs that native born are reluctant to do, and because migrants provide a boost to the sectors in which they work.
• Research from New Zealand and overseas finds that immigration improves productivity and GDP per capita growth.
• Migrants contributed a net +$2.9 billion to the government’s books in 2013. On a per capita level, this was equivalent to +$2,653 per migrant. Native born New Zealanders contributed a net +$540 million to the government’s books, or +$172 per person.

The last data point seems surprising at first, but this is because with migrants we get the benefits of them working and paying tax in New Zealand, but we generally haven’t had to pay for the costs of educating the. So their net contribution to Government finances is significant.

The full report is 57 pages and well worth a read. It dispels some of the myths that certain politicians have pushed.

Another interesting point is that migrants are only half as likely as non-migrants to commit a crime.