Fiscal impacts of immigration 2005/06
Previous Section | Table of Contents | Next Section
Study and the Migrant Population
This section examines New Zealand migrants who participated in study. In particular, the section examines whether the migrant population and sub-groups within this population differed in their rate of study compared to the New Zealand-born population.
This section uses a similar method to that used in BERL's 2003 study. It draws on Census 2006 data about usually resident New Zealanders who responded that they had been studying recently.
The Census data do not separately identify whether usually resident respondents are FFP students or residents eligible for government subsidised educational services. Therefore, the estimates in this report are likely to overestimate education expenditure by foreign students in New Zealand. That is, some usually resident students would be treated as migrants who receive subsidised education rather than FFP students. Data from Infometrics indicates that there were just over 44,500 full fee paying (FFP) overseas students in New Zealand in 2005, while the Census recorded almost 142,000 overseas-born people engaged in study. While not all FFP students may have recorded New Zealand as their usual place of residence, up to 31.5% of the overseas students recorded in the Census may have been FFP students rather than New Zealand residents receiving government subsidies.
Table 5-1 shows the mix of resident migrants and New Zealand-born aged 15 years old and over recently engaged in study. The rate of study by migrants overall (at just over 19 percent) was higher than the New Zealand-born (just under 15 percent). There were substantial differences in study participation amongst the overseas-born population according to their duration of residence in New Zealand.
| Overseas born | New Zealand | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <5 | 5 to 15 | >15 | Total | Total | |
| 15+ studying | 32.0 | 25.7 | 8.1 | 19.4 | 14.9 |
Study amongst recent migrants
Table 5-1 shows that recent migrants had a relatively higher rate of study (at 32 percent) than migrants who have been in New Zealand for a longer period of time. The higher rate of study was related to the age composition of recent migrants. The recent migrant group had a younger age profile than more established migrants. The average age of recent migrants was approximately 29 years old, while the average age for intermediate migrants was 35 and for earlier migrants it was 54. In additional to the age profile of recent migrants, this group was more likely to enrol in English-language courses.[13]
Table 5-2 shows the region of birth of recent migrants and their respective rates of study. This figure is based on the overseas-born population aged 15+; it has not been adjusted to allow for the correlation between age and schooling. Some of the apparent differences in rates of study could be a direct result of the differing age composition of recent migrants across the region of birth sub-groups, as opposed to reflecting inherently different behavioural characteristics of the population groups. Nonetheless, the figure supports the view that some of the difference in rates of study can be attributed to region of birth factors such as enrolments in English language courses and/or the origin of FFP students.
| Australia | Pacific Islands | United Kingdom & Ireland | Europe & North America | Asia | Other | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15+ studying | 18.7 | 22.8 | 11.7 | 23.3 | 46.8 | 27.4 | 32.0 |
Recent migrants from Asia had the highest rate of study (47 percent) amongst recent migrants.
Study amongst intermediate migrants
Study participation rates amongst the intermediate migrant group were less diverse across the region of birth sub-groups than among recent migrants. The Australian group had the highest participation rate (34 percent), followed by the Asian migrant population (30 percent), as shown in see Table 5-3.
These participation rates suggest that the family structure of migrants to New Zealand may also play an important role over time. For example, the migration of families from Australia may be leading to "second round" effects on rates of study as younger family members enter into the 15+ year age group a number of years after shifting to New Zealand. This would explain why the recent Australian migrants had a relatively low rate of study but intermediate (and also earlier) migrant Australians had a relatively higher rate of study.
| Australia | Pacific Islands | United Kingdom & Ireland | Europe & North America | Asia | Other | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15+ studying | 34.2 | 18.4 | 17.2 | 22.5 | 30.1 | 28.1 | 25.7 |
Study amongst the 15-25 year age cohort
The discussion above suggests that the age composition of the migrant population and its sub-groups is a significant influence on study participation rates. The following discussion examines this influence by examining the 15 to 25 year age cohort. This range predominantly focuses on post-secondary school study and allows investigation of differences between recent, intermediate and earlier migrants.
Table 5-4 shows the proportion of the New Zealand and overseas-born populations within the 15-25 year cohort participating in study. The overseas-born population within this age group is further disaggregated by the length of residence in New Zealand.
Overall, the migrant population had an average rate of study of 58 percent. The recent and intermediate migrant groups in the 15-25 year cohort had similar rates of study (62 and 61 percent, respectively), but they differed markedly from the rate amongst the earlier migrant group (at 41 percent). This implies those who were 10-20 years of age when they migrated to New Zealand had a much higher propensity to remain in some form of study after secondary school than the earlier migrant population.
Table 5-4 shows that the rate of study by earlier migrants was similar to the rate for the New Zealand-born (44 percent). The figure also indicates almost no people engaged in full- and part-time study simultaneously, which is a notable change from the 2003 study.
| Overseas born | New Zealand | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study | <5 | 5 to 15 | >15 | Total | Total |
| FT study | 57.8 | 55.5 | 34.0 | 52.4 | 37.7 |
| PT study | 4.4 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 5.2 | 6.3 |
| Both FT&PT | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
FT = full time; PT = part time
Table 5-5 shows the rates of study of the recent migrant population in the 15-25 year age cohort. This population group also had a higher rate of study than any other population group. The figure indicates that study rates were reasonably consistent across the different regions of birth, excepting the Asian migrant population.
Almost three out of four recent Asian migrants were engaged in study (at a rate of 73 percent). This rate was substantially higher than the next highest two groups of recent migrants from Europe/North America and 'Other', at 49 and 57 percent, respectively. Recent Australian (41 percent), Pacific Island (41 percent) and UK/Irish (44 percent) immigrants had rates of study that were similar to the New Zealand-born rate (44 percent) compared to recent migrants from the remaining regions.
| Study | Australia | Pacific Islands | United Kingdom & Ireland | Europe & North America | Asia | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FT study | 34.7 | 35.4 | 40.0 | 45.1 | 68.4 | 51.0 | 57.8 |
| PT study | 6.1 | 5.2 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 6.0 | 4.4 |
| Both FT&PT | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
FT = full time; PT = part time
The study participation profile changes markedly for intermediate immigrants, as shown in Table 5-6. This figure indicates the rates of study were reasonably consistent across the region of birth sub-groups, with only the population from the Pacific Islands showing a relatively low rate of study.
| Study | Australia | Pacific Islands | United Kingdom & Ireland | Europe & North America | Asia | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FT study | 54.5 | 31.4 | 55.5 | 61.1 | 62.2 | 57.0 | 55.5 |
| PT study | 5.7 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.7 | 6.1 | 5.7 |
| Both FT&PT | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
FT = full time; PT = part time
Summary of migrants' participation in study
Overall, migrants had a higher rate of participation in study than the New Zealand-born population. This difference was most obvious in the recent and intermediate migrant population, while earlier migrants tended to have a lower participation rate than the other two migrant populations and the New Zealand-born population.
Examination of study participation rates by those aged 15 and over indicates that migrants from Asia had significantly higher rates of study than any other group. Europe/North America and 'Other' also had higher rates of study than migrants from other regions and their New Zealand-born counterparts.
A second observation is lower participation in post-compulsory study by migrants born in the Pacific Islands. The participation rate was not significantly altered as these migrants transitioned from recent to intermediate status. This contrasts with the overall study participation rate of recent and intermediate Pacific Island migrants, which falls from 23 to 18 percent.
[13] This group may also include foreign full fee paying (FFP) students, who are not migrants but are included in the census data as they identified New Zealand as their country of usual residence. This problem is expected to be most pronounced for the recent migrant estimates. However, any distortion to the estimated fiscal impacts is limited by the number of non-immigrant FFP students that were recorded as usually resident. Education data suggest that approximately 60 percent of foreign students enrol in courses of study lasting less than 12 months. The Census Guide Notes indicate overseas residents staying in New Zealand for less than 12 months should record their home country address as their usually resident address. FFP students misallocated as migrants will be included as a fiscal cost in terms of the provision of public education in New Zealand when in fact they are contributing to their own education as full fee paying students. Equivalently, such students will also generate GST and income tax revenue. Therefore the net fiscal impact of international students is likely to be underestimated.