Migrant and Refugee Youth Settlement and Social Inclusion Series

This report builds a profile of migrant and refugee youth (people aged 12 to 24 years) in New Zealand by analysing immigration approval data (1998 to 2007) and Census of Population and Dwellings (census) data (1996, 2001, and 2006).

New Zealand Department of Labour immigration approval data shows that youth comprise 18 percent of residence approvals over the period 1998 to 2007, and an increasing proportion of all residence approvals over this period were youth. Half of youth approvals were through the Skilled/Business Stream, 38 percent through the Family Sponsored Stream, and 12 percent through the International/Humanitarian Stream.

Three-quarters of the 599,798 student approvals from1998 to 2007 were aged 12 to 24 years. The largest category of student approvals was fee-paying students (82 percent), which was the main approval category for 18- to 24-year-olds. Three-quarters of fee-paying 12- to 24-year-old students were from North Asia. China was the main source country for these students, although the number of student approvals from China has declined steeply since 2003.

A total of 674,321 work permits were approved from 1998 to 2007. Work permit approval numbers grew over the period and an increasing proportion of applicants were aged 15 to 24 years (around one-third in 2006 and 2007). Half of youth were approved through a Working Holiday Scheme, and 17 percent of youth had a labour market–tested work permit.

The three censuses recorded an increasing proportion of youth born overseas (from 14 percent in 1996 to 22 percent in 2006). Migrant youth had lower rates of labour force participation than New Zealand–born youth, reflecting migrants’ higher rates of study participation. Migrant 18- to 24-year-olds tended to be better qualified than their New Zealand–born counterparts, with a smaller proportion with no qualifications and a larger proportion with university qualifications.

More than half of migrant youth lived in the Auckland region, and the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds living in this region increased from 51 percent in 1996 to 58 percent in 2006. From 2001 to 2006 the number of recent migrant youth (youth in New Zealand for less than five years) living in Auckland decreased. A large proportion of youth from Asia and the Pacific lived in the Auckland region.

Migrant and Refugee Youth in New Zealand: Statistical Profile, 1996 to 2007 is available from the New Zealand Department of Labour’s website at http://www.dol.govt.nz/publications/research/migrant-refugee-youth-nz/mrynz-1.asp

For further information please contact research@dol.govt.nz, or visit www.immigration.govt.nz/research