What Impact Does Temporary Migration Have on the Hiring of New Zealanders

Abstract

The early to mid-2000s saw considerable growth in the use of temporary migrants to fill labour market gaps in New Zealand. Temporary migration also grew into an important pathway for prospective permanent migrants. With the onset of the global economic crisis, and consequent rise in unemployment, questions have been raised about potential negative effects of migration on the employment opportunities available to New Zealanders. Temporary migration may present greater risks to those, such as beneficiaries and youth, who are most disadvantaged in the labour market. For many temporary migrants there are few restrictions on the employment they take up, and as a result they may be more likely than permanent migrants to take up low-paid or part-time work, possibly substituting for low-skilled New Zealanders. A number of studies have examined the impact of migration on the New Zealand labour market, but due to data limitations, none has looked at the specific impact of temporary migration. In this paper we estimate the effect of changes in the hiring of temporary migrants on the hiring of New Zealanders using data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) prototype. The IDI prototype was created by Statistics New Zealand, and brings together administrative and survey data sources from across a number of government agencies.