Labour Market Reports - Archive
Quarterly Migration Update at a glance
This section contains archived information that has been retained for reference purposes. To view current reports, please go to the Labour Market Information section.
Published: 07 August 2007
Description
This report examines trends in permanent and long-term (PLT) migration using data collected by Statistics New Zealand from arrival and departure cards. These data cover migrants intending to stay or leave for a year or more. This analysis is supported by administrative data on immigration approvals from the Department of Labour.
Link to full report
Quarterly Migration Update HTML | PDF [79 KB, 6 pages]
Summary
Net migration in the year to June 2007 was 10,100.
Annual net migration fell over the last seven months from a peak of 14,800 in November 2006.
Net migration has also decreased from 10,700 a year earlier.
The recent decrease in net migration has been driven by growing departures of New Zealanders, as well as fewer New Zealanders returning from overseas.
We expect that decreases over recent months will continue in the short term with annual net PLT migration expected to decrease to around 8,000 – 9,000 in the year ahead.
Arrivals and departures
Net migration has been driven by large net outflows of New Zealanders offsetting large net inflows of non-New Zealanders.
Departures of New Zealanders to Australia have risen in the last year. This continues a pattern of strong rises in the previous two years.
Increases in non-New Zealand citizen arrivals have been driven mainly by increased arrivals from Asia, particularly from South-East Asia.
Net migration tends to be highly volatile and have long cycles. This means that migration trends tend to persist once a turning point is reached. The average length of migration cycles in the last 20 years has been about 18 months.
Related information
External Migration data from Statistics New Zealand [external link]
Immigration New Zealand homepage [external link]
Immigration New Zealand research homepage [external link]
Future updates
This is a regular report – the next update is due in November 2007. Reports from previous periods can be found in archive
Author or contact details
For further information please contact the Labour Market Analysis team
This section contains archived information that has been retained for reference purposes. To view current reports, please go to the Labour Market Information section.