Immigration: The New Zealand Experience

Abstract

This paper starts with a historical review of the New Zealand immigration experience and policy. Data from the 1981 and 1996 New Zealand Censuses are then used to illustrate changes in the characteristics of immigrants as well as their labor outcomes. The decline in the income of recent immigrants over the study period is found to be due mainly to changes in the region-of-origin composition. Immigrants are found to have lower incomes than natives upon arrival. However, income parity is reached after 20-30 years of residence. Immigrants with English speaking background fare substantially better in the New Zealand labor market than migrants with non-English speaking background.

JEL Classification: J15, J61, J68