YOUTH APPROVAL PATTERNS 1998 TO 2007

Key findings

• Youth are becoming an increasingly important component of residence and work approvals. Since 1998, an increasing proportion of youth have come to New Zealand as Skilled/Business migrants and an increasing proportion of youth were the principal applicant in a Skilled/Business application.
• A much larger proportion of female than male youth migrate to New Zealand as the partner of a New Zealand citizen or resident.
• North Asia and the Pacific are the main regions of origin for youth approved for residence. The largest proportion of youth in the Skilled/Business Stream was from North Asia, and the largest proportion of youth in the Family Sponsored Stream was from the Pacific. From 1998 to 2006, the proportion of North Asian youth approved for residence increased significantly. Much of this increase is accounted for by 18- to 24-year-old residence approvals from China through the Skilled Migrant Category.
• Most school-aged youth approved for residence are secondary applicants and come to New Zealand as part of their parents' Skilled/Business application.
• The General Skills/Skilled Migrant and Partnership Categories were the main residence approval categories for 18- to 24-year-olds. In 2006 and 2007, the Skilled Migrant Category was the main approval category for 18- to 24-year-old principal applicants.
• One-third of Refugee Quota refugees and one-quarter of successful refugee status claimants granted residence in New Zealand were youth. The main source countries for refugee youth were Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and Iraq. Thirty-five percent of 18- to 24-year-old Refugee Quota refugees were principal applicants.
• Fee-paying students made up most student approvals, and three-quarters of fee-paying students were post-school age. Most dependent students were school age. Three-quarters of fee-paying students were from North Asia. Since 2003, the number of student approvals from China has declined steeply.
• Just over half of youth approved for a work permit came to New Zealand on a working holiday and 17 percent on a labour market-tested work permit.
• Youth work permit approvals from the United Kingdom (UK) more than doubled and work permit approvals from China and Germany increased substantially from 1998 to 2007.
• Nearly four times as many youth were approved for a labour market-tested work permit in 2007 than in 1998. The main source regions for these youth were Europe (including Russia), South Africa, and North America (ESANA); North Asia; and UK/Ireland. Brazil has become an increasingly important source of youth labour market-tested work permits.

Introduction

This chapter describes residence and temporary student and work approval trends for youth (people aged 12 to 24 years) from 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2007. The data comes from the Department of Labour's Application Management System.

The chapter focuses on trends and patterns in youth approvals, but, where possible, makes comparisons with all approvals.^[18]

Detailed information on all temporary and permanent migration can be found in the annual Migration Trends series.^[19]

All youth residence approvals

This section begins by describing all youth residence approvals, then details each of the three approval streams: Skilled/Business, Family Sponsored and International/Humanitarian.

From 1998 to 2007, 422,159 people were approved for residence. Youth comprised 18 percent of these approvals (see Table 2.1). The proportion of youth increased from 16 percent in 1998 to 20 percent in 2006 and then decreased slightly to 19 percent in 2007.

Table 2.1 Residence approvals by age, 1998-2007

Year	Age (years)				Total number
	Under 12 (%)	12-24 (%)	25 and over (%)	Total (%)
1998	19	16	65	100	26,796
1999	19	17	64	100	30,535
2000	19	16	64	100	37,145
2001	20	16	64	100	53,402
2002	20	17	63	100	47,067
2003	17	17	65	100	41,939
2004	17	19	64	100	35,192
2005	18	18	64	100	53,513
2006	16	20	64	100	49,687
2007	17	19	65	100	46,883
Total	18	18	64	100	422,159

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100 percent.

From 1998 to 2007, half of youth were approved through the Skilled/Business Stream, 38 percent through the Family Sponsored Stream, and 12 percent through the International/Humanitarian Stream (see Table 2.2). An increasing proportion of youth were approved through the Skilled/Business Stream (from 35 percent of all youth approvals in 1998 to 59 percent in 2006, decreasing slightly to 56 percent in 2007). An increasing proportion of youth through the Skilled/Business Stream were the principal applicant in the residence application (increasing from 4 percent of youth through the Skilled/Business Stream in 1998 to 28 percent in 2007). The characteristics of youth approved through each stream, including specific points of interest, are explored below.

Table 2.2 Youth (12-24 years) residence approvals by stream, 1998-2007

Year	Skilled/ Business Stream (%)	Family Sponsored Stream (%)	International/ Humanitarian Stream (%)	Total (%)	Total number
1998	35	49	16	100	4,393
1999	34	50	16	100	5,068
2000	41	45	14	100	6,050
2001	54	37	8	100	8,645
2002	56	37	7	100	8,061
2003	45	43	13	100	7,258
2004	43	44	14	100	6,812
2005	58	30	12	100	9,819
2006	59	28	13	100	9,725
2007	56	33	11	100	8,797
Total	50	38	12	100	74,628

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100 percent.

Age and gender

Forty-seven percent of youth were school age (12 to 17 years) and 53 percent were post-school age (18 to 24 years). The proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds approved over the period increased notably (from 51 percent of youth in 1998 to 60 percent in 2007).

Overall, 53 percent of youth approvals were female (see Table 2.3). For 18- to 24-year-olds, a larger proportion were female than male. This gender difference was more notable for principal than secondary applicants. As is described in section 2.4, the gender difference was mostly in the Family Sponsored Stream. For all residence approvals, a slightly larger proportion of males was approved each year (55 percent of principal applicants).

Table 2.3 Youth (12-24 years) residence approvals by gender and applicant type, 1998-2007

Applicant type	Age (years)	Female (%)	Male (%)	Total (%)	Total number
Principal	12-17	49	51	100	3,251
	18-24	59	41	100	24,108
	12-24	58	42	100	27,359
Secondary	12-17	48	52	100	31,745
	18-24	53	47	100	15,524
	12-24	49	51	100	47,269
Total		53	47	100	74,628

Region of origin

The main regions of origin for youth residence approvals were North Asia (21 percent) and the Pacific (20 percent) (see Table 2.4).^[20] It is of note that the main source for all residence approvals was UK/Ireland (21 percent), yet only 11 percent of youth were from this region. The proportion of all approvals from the Pacific was 14 percent.

Table 2.4 Youth (12-24 years) residence approvals by region, 1998-2007

Region of origin	Number	Percentage (%)
North Asia	15,579	21
Pacific	15,042	20
ESANA	11,287	15
South Asia	9,308	13
South-East Asia	8,372	11
United Kingdom/Ireland	8,432	11
Other	6,358	9
Total	74,378	100

Notes:
Region of origin was not recorded for 250 youth.
ESANA = Europe (including Russia), South Africa, and North America.

Figure 2.1 shows a marked increase in the proportion of youth approvals from North Asia from 1998 to 2006 (with a slight dip between 2003 and 2004). North Asian approvals decreased from 2006 to 2007 (from 30 percent to 23 percent). Between 1998 and 2000, the main source region of youth was the Pacific, with a levelling off in the proportion from this region since 2004. The proportion of youth from UK/Ireland increased from 2002, but declined from 2005. These trends contrast with all approvals, which since 2002 have seen a decrease in the proportion of North Asian approvals (albeit with an increase in 2006) and an increase from UK/Ireland (peaking in 2005 at 32 percent of all approvals).

Figure 2.1 Youth (12–24 years) residence approvals by region, 1998–2007

Data table for Figure 2.1

Notes:
Region of origin was not recorded for 250 youth.
ESANA = Europe (including Russia), South Africa and North America; UK = United Kingdom.

Country of origin

The main countries of origin for youth residence approvals from 1998 to 2007 were China (14 percent), the UK (11 percent), and India (9 percent) (see Table 2.5). There was variation over the period 1998 to 2007 with the proportion of approvals from China increasing from 5 percent of youth approvals to 19 percent. The proportion from the UK was 8 percent in 1998, peaking at 18 percent in 2005 (and then decreasing to 14 percent in 2007). South Korean approvals increased from 2 percent in 1998 to 6 percent in 2006 (and then decreased to 3 percent in 2007).

Table C1 (Appendix C) has more information about the country of origin by year of approval.

Table 2.5 Youth (12-24 years) residence approvals by country of origin, 1998-2007

Country of origin	Number	Percentage (%)
China	10,489	14
United Kingdom	8,260	11
India	7,030	9
Fiji	6,687	9
South Africa	6,136	8
Samoa	5,048	7
South Korea	3,271	4
Tonga	2,784	4
Philippines	2,040	3
Malaysia	1,887	3
United States	1,347	2
Cambodia	1,330	2
Zimbabwe	1,261	2
Iraq	1,008	1
Taiwan	1,000	1
Thailand	855	1
Somalia	851	1
Vietnam	846	1
Afghanistan	843	1
Sri Lanka	774	1
Other	10,881	15
Total	74,628	100

Figure 2.2 illustrates the dramatic increase in the proportion of residence approvals aged 18 to 24 years from China (from 7 percent in 1998 to a peak of 33 percent in 2006). Most of the increase since 2004 is accounted for by approvals through the Skilled Migrant Category (71 percent of these Skilled Migrant Category approvals from China were principal applicants). The proportion of residence approvals aged 18 to 24 years from China decreased slightly to 30 percent in 2007.

Figure 2.2 Residence approvals for 18-24-year-olds by top five countries of origin, 1998-2007

Data table for Figure 2.2

Skilled/Business Stream

Youth made up 15 percent of the 246,702 Skilled/Business approvals from 1998 to 2007. Figure 2.3 shows that while the proportion of all Skilled/Business approvals aged 12 to 17 years remained reasonably constant, the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds increased steadily (from 3 percent of all Skilled/Business approvals in 1998 to 10 percent in 2007).

Thirty-eight percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were the principal applicant in their residence application.

Forty-eight percent of 12- to 17-year-olds and 52 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the Skilled/Business Stream were female.

Figure 2.3 Youth (12-24 years) Skilled/Business residence approvals as a proportion of all Skilled/Business approvals, 1998-2007

Data table for Figure 2.3

Region and country of origin

The main regions of origin for Skilled/Business youth approved between 1998 and 2007 were North Asia (27 percent), ESANA (21 percent), and UK/Ireland (18 percent). A large proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds were from North Asia (39 percent).

The main countries of origin for Skilled/Business youth were the UK (18 percent), China (17 percent), and South Africa (14 percent). A large increase in approvals from China occurred from 1998 to 2007, from 1 percent of approvals in 1998 to 29 percent in 2006 and 26 percent in 2007.

Approval categories

Most youth in the Skilled/Business Stream were approved through the General Skills Category or Skilled Migrant Category (86 percent).^[21] In 2006 and 2007, the Skilled Migrant Category was the main approval category for 18- to 24-year-old principal applicants, whereas every other year the Partnership Category was the main category.^[22] China was the main source of these Skilled Migrant Category approvals (64 percent), followed by India (10 percent) and the UK (5 percent). Through the Skilled Migrant Category, principal applicants aged 20 to 29 years can claim the maximum points for age, with the points for age decreasing after this. Some youth make the transition from work or study in New Zealand to residence, so can claim points for New Zealand qualifications or work experience.

Family Sponsored Stream

There were 137,844 approvals through the Family Sponsored Stream from 1998 to 2007, of which 21 percent were youth. Thirty-one percent of youth were aged 12 to 17 years and 69 percent were aged 18 to 24 years. Thirty-four percent of 12- to 17-year-olds and 80 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were the principal applicant in their residence application.

Fifty-eight percent of youth in the Family Sponsored Stream were female. A large proportion of 18- to 24-year-old principal applicants were female (66 percent). The proportion of female principal applicants was consistently high (72 percent in 2006 and 71 percent in 2007 - see Figure 2.4). Partnership Category approvals were the main category of approvals for 18- to 24-year-olds over the period (11,660 principal applicants), of which 73 percent were female.^[23] For the three main Partnership source countries of China, India, and Fiji, 79 percent, 81 percent, and 73 percent of principal applicants respectively were female.

Figure 2.4 Family Sponsored Stream approvals for 18-24-year-old principal applicants by gender, 1998-2007

Data table for Figure 2.4

Region and country of origin

The main regions of origin for Family Sponsored youth were the Pacific (29 percent), North Asia (18 percent), and South and South-East Asia (14 percent each). The main countries of origin were China (14 percent), Fiji (13 percent), India (11 percent), and Samoa (9 percent).

Approval categories

The main approval categories under the Family Sponsored Stream for 12- to 17-year-olds were the Dependent Child (33 percent), Partnership (29 percent), and Humanitarian (16 percent) Categories.^[24] Most 12- to 17-year-olds approved through the Partnership Category were the dependent child of the principal applicant. Two-thirds of 18- to 24-year-olds were approved through the Partnership Category (91 percent were the principal applicant) and 13 percent through the Dependent Child Category.

International/Humanitarian Stream

Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of the 37,613 approvals through the International/Humanitarian Stream were youth. Seven percent of 12- to 17-year-olds and 54 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were the principal applicant in their residence application in this stream.

Fifty-four percent of International/Humanitarian youth approvals were male.

Region and country of origin

The top three regions of origin for International/Humanitarian youth approvals were the Pacific (47 percent), South Asia (11 percent), and South-East Asia (7 percent). Twenty-nine percent were from 'other' regions (including countries such as Somalia, Iran, Iraq, and Ethiopia).^[25] The main country of origin for International/Humanitarian youth approvals was Samoa (27 percent), followed by Tonga (8 percent), Afghanistan (7 percent), Fiji (7 percent), and Somalia (6 percent). Most youth residence approvals in the International/Humanitarian Stream from the Pacific were approved through the Samoan Quota and Pacific Access Category, whereas those from Asia and 'other' regions mainly came to New Zealand as refugees.

Approval categories

Twenty-nine percent of International/Humanitarian youth were approved through the Refugee Quota and 24 percent through the Samoan Quota. Successful refugee status claimants granted residence in New Zealand and successful applicants through the Pacific Access Category made up 13 percent of approvals each. The characteristics of youth refugee approvals are explored in section 2.5.3.

Refugee youth

As a signatory to the 1951 United Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, New Zealand takes an annual quota of about 750 refugees. From 1998 to 2007, 8,149 quota refugees were approved for residence. One-third of these refugees were youth. Most 12- to 17-year-old refugees (91 percent) were secondary applicants, and 35 percent of 18- to 24-year-old refugees were principal applicants. Forty-five percent of youth refugees were female.

The main source countries for quota refugee youth were Afghanistan, Somalia, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and Iraq (see Table 2.6). The geographic pattern of source countries for refugees varies as global circumstances and humanitarian needs change. For example, the largest source country in 2006 and 2007 was Myanmar (195 and 62 youth approvals respectively). Source countries in 2005 had been more varied, including Iran (53), Iraq (36), Sudan (34), and Afghanistan (31).

Refugee numbers are boosted by successful refugee status determinations. Of the 4,739 successful refugee status claimants granted residence in New Zealand from 1998 to 2007, 25 percent were aged 12 to 24 years. Thirteen percent of 12- to 17-year-old refugee status claimants and 55 percent of 18- to 24-year-old refugee status claimants were the principal applicant in their residence application. Sixty-one percent of all successful youth refugee status claimants were male. Table 2.6 shows the main countries of origin for successful refugee status claimants. The number of refugee status claimants has decreased overall since 2001 and this is reflected in the number of youth approvals, with only 52 youth approved in 2007 (down from the peak of 227 youth in 2000).

Table 2.6 Refugee youth (12-24 years) approved for residence as a proportion of all approvals by country of origin, 1998-2007

Country of origin	Quota refugees			Country of origin	Successful refugee status claimants
	Youth	All approvals	Proportion of all (%)		Youth	All approvals	Proportion of all (%)
Afghanistan	422	1,288	33	Iran	218	1,067	20
Somalia	410	939	44	Afghanistan	191	551	35
Myanmar	346	1,190	29	Sri Lanka	145	577	25
Ethiopia	243	570	43	Somalia	100	284	35
Iraq	231	873	26	Iraq	92	354	26
Sudan	141	375	38	Kuwait	62	156	40
Iran	112	376	30	China	44	226	19
Yugoslavia	79	380	21	Zimbabwe	34	175	19
Eritrea	72	219	33	Czech Republic	31	108	29
Burundi	38	123	31	India	27	122	22
Other	478	1,816	26	Other	221	1,119	20
Total	2,572	8,149	32	Total	1,165	4,739	25

Temporary student approvals

This section describes trends in 12- to 24-year-olds coming to New Zealand on temporary student permits from 1998 to 2007.^[26] Temporary students and workers make an important contribution to New Zealand's economy. International education is estimated to contribute more than $2 billion annually in foreign exchange to New Zealand.^[27] In New Zealand, international students can also play an important role in the labour market through their labour participation in post-study, particularly if they are qualified and gain employment in areas with skill shortages.

As is described below, these temporary approvals made up a substantial proportion of migrant approvals over the period 1998 to 2007. International students attending courses lasting for more than three months must apply for a student visa. The analysis in this section separates student approvals into the three broad groups of:

• full fee-paying students (English language and foreign fee-paying tertiary students)

• dependent students (the dependent children of work permit holders)

• other students (those studying on scholarships, those studying on student exchanges, and some vocational trainees).

The number of student approvals peaked in 2003 with 87,362 approvals. Since then student approvals have declined and then levelled out, mainly due to fewer approvals from the main source country China.

All student approvals

More than half a million (599,798) student permits were issued from 1998 to 2007 (see Table 2.7). Most students were fee-paying students (82 percent) with 9 percent dependent students. The proportion of dependent students increased from 1 percent of student approvals in 1998 to 16 percent in 2007. Three-quarters of all students were aged 12 to 24 years - this group of students is the focus of the remainder of this section.

Table 2.7 Student approvals by age and student type, 1998-2007

Student type	Age (years)			Total
	0-11 (row %)	12-24 (row %)	25 and over (row %)
				Number	%
Fee-paying	6	77	17	493,909	82
Dependent	59	41	0	53,036	9
Other	7	75	18	52,853	9
Total	11	74	16	599,798	100

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100 percent.

Age and gender of youth student approvals

Seventy-five percent of fee-paying students were post-school age (18 to 24 years), while most dependent students (90 percent) were school age (12 to 17 years) (see Table 2.8). Students were divided fairly evenly by gender: female (48 percent) and male (52 percent).

Table 2.8 Youth (12-24 years) student approvals by student type and age, 1998-2007

Student type	12-17 years			18-24 years			Total
	Number	Percentage (%)		Number	Percentage (%)
Dependent	19,321		90	2,230		10	21,551
Fee-paying	95,420		25	285,407		75	380,827
Other	13,113		33	26,446		67	39,559
Total	127,854		29	314,083		71	441,937

Region of origin of student approvals

Table 2.9 shows the regions of origin for the various student types. Three-quarters of fee-paying students were from North Asia, 10 percent were from South-East Asia, and 9 percent were from ESANA. The regions of origin for dependent students were more varied with 30 percent from North Asia, 23 percent from ESANA, 15 percent from the Pacific, and 13 percent from the UK/Ireland.

Table 2.9 Youth (12-24 years) student approvals by student type and region or origin, 1998-2007

Region of origin	Student type				Total
	Dependent (%)	Fee-paying (%)	Other (%)	Number		Percentage (%)
North Asia	30	73	43	301,293		68
ESANA	23	9	31	50,324		11
Pacific	15	2	8	13,950		3
UK/Ireland	13	1	2	5,581		1
South-East Asia	8	10	8	43,351		10
South Asia	4	3	1	12,760		3
Other	7	3	7	14,643		3
Total (%)	100	100	100			100
Total number	21,549	380,798	39,555	441,902

Notes:
Region of origin was not recorded for 35 individuals.
Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100 percent.
ESANA = Europe (including Russia), South Africa and North America; UK = United Kingdom.

Figure 2.5 shows student approvals for the top five source countries. Since 1999, China has been the main source country, although since 2003 the number of student approvals from China has declined steeply. The number of student approvals from South Korea and Japan has also decreased since 2003 (although approvals from South Korea increased slightly in 2007 - see Table D1 (Appendix D)).

Figure 2.5 Youth (12-24 years) student approvals by country of origin, 1998-2007

Data table for Figure 2.5

Because most students were fee-paying students, Figure 2.5 reflects fee-paying students' countries of origin. The main source of dependent student approvals was South Korea, followed by the UK and South Africa. Approvals from South Korea varied each year from 1998 to 2007, but increased over the whole period. Dependent student approvals from Fiji have increased steadily since 2003 while the number from the UK has declined since 2004 (although it increased in 2007). See Table D2 (Appendix D) for more details about the countries of origin of dependent students.

Temporary work permit approvals

This section explores work permit approvals for migrant youth.^[28] Temporary work permits include:

• labour market-tested work permits (which enable employers to meet a particular skill need that New Zealand employees cannot meet)

• work permits for family members (eg, the partner of a work permit holder or partner of a New Zealand citizen or resident)

• Working Holiday Schemes for 18- to 30-year-olds.^[29]

Overview of youth work permit approvals

Table 2.10 illustrates the growth in the numbers of work permit approvals from 1998 to 2007 with more than 118,000 people approved in 2007 compared with only about 30,000 in 1998. An increasing proportion of work permit approvals were youth, with close to one-third of approvals aged 15 to 24 years in 2006 and 2007.^[30]

Table 2.10 Work permit approvals by age, 1998-2007

Year	15-24 years		25 years and over		Total
	Number	Percentage (%)	Number	Percentage (%)
1998	7,814	26	21,821	74	29,635
1999	8,591	25	25,156	75	33,747
2000	9,117	25	27,888	75	37,005
2001	13,868	25	40,733	75	54,601
2002	16,162	26	46,654	74	62,816
2003	18,192	28	47,826	72	66,018
2004	22,100	28	57,605	72	79,705
2005	26,270	30	62,336	70	88,606
2006	33,642	32	70,153	68	103,795
2007	37,128	31	81,265	69	118,393
Total	192,884	29	481,437	71	674,321

Table 2.11 shows the types of work permits for youth and all approvals. The main work permit types were labour market-tested work permits, Working Holiday Schemes, and Partnership policy. Just over half of youth were working holidaymakers and 17 percent had a labour market-tested work permit. The characteristics of youth approved for various work permit types are explored below.

Table 2.11 Youth (15-24 years) work permit approvals by category, 1998-2007

Work permit category	Youth (15-24 years)		All approvals
	Number	Percentage (%)	Number	Percentage (%)
Labour market-tested	32,449	17	217,501	32
Working Holiday Schemes	100,489	52	190,732	28
Partnership	21,250	11	118,018	18
Work to residence	965	1	22,151	3
Work post-study	9,927	5	16,745	2
Other	27,804	14	109,174	16
Total	192,884	100	674,321	100

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100 percent.

The three main regions of origin of all categories of youth work permit approvals were ESANA, UK/Ireland, and North Asia (see Table 2.12). These same regions were the main sources for all work permit approvals, although a comparatively smaller proportion of all approvals were from ESANA and UK/Ireland. A slightly smaller proportion of youth were from South Asia, the Pacific, and South-East Asia compared with all approvals.

Table 2.12 Youth (15-24 years) work permit approvals by region of origin, 1998-2007

Region of origin	Number	Percentage (%)
ESANA	62,641	32
United Kingdom/Ireland	53,826	28
North Asia	41,424	21
South Asia	8,388	4
Pacific	7,987	4
South East Asia	7,913	4
Other	10,696	6
Total	192,875	100

Notes:
Region of origin was not recorded for 9 youth.
Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100 percent.
ESANA = Europe (including Russia), South Africa and North America.

Country of origin

The UK was the main country of origin (source country) of youth approved for work permits from 1998 to 2007 (24 percent) followed by China (10 percent), Germany (9 percent), Japan (8 percent), and the United States (6 percent) (see Table E1 (Appendix E) for more details).^[31] The source countries with the largest proportions of all work permit approvals were the UK (22 percent), Japan (9 percent), China (8 percent), the United States (6 percent), and India (5 percent).

Figure 2.6 illustrates changes in the numbers of youth work permit approvals from the main source countries from 1998 to 2007. Approvals from the UK more than doubled from 2,530 approvals in 1998 to 6,283 in 2007, while approvals from Japan declined since 2003 (from 2,076 to 1,233 in 2007). The number of youth work permit approvals from China increased substantially from 118 in 1998 to 6,226 in 2007. This increase was proportionately much larger than the increase for all work permits from China (from 1,215 in 1998 to 14,755 in 2007). The number of youth from Germany also increased substantially. An overall increase in the diversity of source countries for work permit approvals was reflected in an increase over the years in the 'other' category (see Table E1 (Appendix E)).

Figure 2.6 Youth (15-24 years) work permit approvals by top five countries of origin, 1998-2007

Data table for Figure 2.6

Age and gender

Most of the 192,884 youth approved for work permits were aged 18 to 24 years, with 1,095 individuals aged 15 to 17 years.^[32] Fifty-two percent of youth work permit approvals were for female youth. From 2000 to 2007, consistently more females than males were approved youth work permits (ranging from 51 percent in 2000 and 2001 to 55 percent in 2004).

Working Holiday Schemes

New Zealand has established Working Holiday Schemes with 27 countries with up to 50,000 places available. These schemes allow 18- to 30-year-olds to visit New Zealand for up to 12 months (or 24 months for UK working holidaymakers) and to undertake short-term employment during their stay. The number of places available through some schemes is capped. Policy changes to the schemes in recent years have increased the number of places available.^[33]

While Working Holiday Schemes are available to people aged 18 to 30 years, the data presented in this section relates to the 18- to 24-year-olds who are the focus of this report. Of the 190,732 Working Holiday Scheme approvals over the period, 53 percent were aged 18 to 24 years. Fifty-three percent of youth working holidaymakers were female. This gender difference was evident each year between 1998 and 2007 with the proportion of females ranging from 52 percent to 55 percent.

Table 2.13 shows the countries with which New Zealand has or has had Working Holiday agreements and the number of approvals for each of these countries over 1998 to 2007.^[34] As with all Working Holiday Scheme approvals, the main approval countries were the UK, Japan, and Germany. The number of youth approvals from the UK, Germany, South Korea, and the United States increased substantially over this period (see Table E2 (Appendix E)).

Table 2.13 Youth (18-24 years) Working Holiday Scheme approvals by country, 1998-2007

Country	Number	Country	Number
United Kingdom	36,301	Malaysia	931
Japan	13,699	Czech Republic	925
Germany	13,240	Denmark	916
Canada	6,203	Italy	562
Ireland	6,178	Taiwan	482
France	3,915	Belgium	354
South Korea	3,862	Finland	255
United States	3,594	Hong Kong	234
Netherlands	2,723	Uruguay	159
Sweden	2,132	Thailand	103
Argentina	1,900	Norway	92
Chile	1,473	Singapore	42

Note: Four countries not in the table with which New Zealand now has Working Holiday Scheme agreements are Norway, China, Mexico, and Estonia.

Labour market-tested work permits

The objective of labour market-tested work permits is to fill skill shortages in New Zealand where no New Zealanders are available to do the work. In this analysis several work permit categories are grouped together as 'labour market-tested' work permits.^[35]

Of the 217,501 labour market-tested work permit approvals, 15 percent were aged 15 to 24 years. There was a large increase in the number of labour market-tested youth work permit approvals from 1998 to 2007 with nearly four times as many approvals in 2007 than in 1998 (see Table 2.14). This represented a larger increase than for all labour market-tested work permits over the same period. Fifty-seven percent of youth approved for labour market-tested work permits over the whole period were male.

Table 2.14 Youth (15-24 years) labour market-tested work permit approvals by gender, 1998-2007

Year	Female (%)	Male (%)	Total (%)	Total number
1998	45	55	100	1,574
1999	43	57	100	1,698
2000	46	54	100	1,912
2001	43	57	100	2,272
2002	44	56	100	2,666
2003	42	58	100	3,156
2004	43	57	100	3,828
2005	43	57	100	4,288
2006	40	60	100	5,286
2007	41	59	100	5,756
Total	43	57	100	32,436

The main regions of origin for youth labour market-tested work permit approvals were ESANA (26 percent), North Asia (20 percent), and UK/Ireland (19 percent). The numbers from these regions increased from 1998 to 2007 (see Figure 2.7). Of note, is the large increase of labour market-tested work permit approvals from 'other' regions from 2005 to 2007. Brazil was a large source of 'other' approvals with 1,954 15- to 24-year-olds approved from 2005 to 2007. Table E3 (Appendix E) has more detail on approval countries.

Partnership work permits

Youth (15 to 24 years) made up 18 percent of the 118,018 Partnership work permit approvals between 1998 and 2007.^[36] The number of youth Partnership approvals increased substantially over the period. It is of note that 71 percent of youth approvals were female, and the proportion of females approved from 1998 to 2007 increased overall (see Table 2.15).

Figure 2.7 Youth (15-24 years) labour market-tested work permit approvals by region of origin, 1998-2007

Data table for Figure 2.7

Notes
Region of origin was not recorded for two individuals.
ESANA = Europe (including Russia), South Africa, and North America; LMT = labour market-tested; UK = United Kingdom.

Figure 2.15 Youth (15-24 years) Partnership work permit approvals by gender, 1998-2007

Year	Female (%)	Male (%)	Total (%)	Total number
1998	65	35	100	705
1999	62	38	100	782
2000	68	32	100	934
2001	66	34	100	1,268
2002	68	32	100	1,648
2003	69	31	100	2,142
2004	73	27	100	3,139
2005	74	26	100	3,162
2006	74	26	100	3,572
2007	73	27	100	3,892
Total	71	29	100	21,244

Note: Gender was not recorded for one individual.

Figure 2.8 shows an increase in the number of Partnership work permit approvals from North Asia since 2002. Approvals from the other two main source regions (ESANA and South Asia) levelled off from 2005 to 2007, while approvals from the Pacific grew steadily. UK/Ireland made up only 9 percent of youth Partnership approvals, yet was the second largest source of all Partnership approvals (20 percent). South Asia made up 17 percent of youth approvals and 10 percent of all approvals. See Table E4 (Appendix E) for data on countries of approval.

Figure 2.8 Youth (15-24 years) Partnership work permit approvals by region of origin, 1998-2007

Data table for Figure 2.8

Notes
Region was not recorded for two individuals.
ESANA = Europe (including Russia), South Africa and North America; UK = United Kingdom.

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