MEDIA RELEASE
10 August 2012

Over 80 percent of recent migrants satisfied with life in New Zealand

New research drawn from the Immigration Settlement Monitoring Programme Migrants Survey 2011, and released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) shows the overall picture of recent migrant settlement in New Zealand is positive and recent migrants are faring very well.

The research shows positive results in several key settlement measures including recent migrants’ intention to stay, satisfaction with life and good matching between their jobs and qualifications/skills.

“Labour market participation for recent migrants is generally positive,” says head of Labour and Immigration Research, Vasantha Krishnan.

“Not only were seven out of 10 recent migrants in paid employment in 2011, over three quarters of employed migrants said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their main job and 72 percent stated that their occupation matched or partly matched their skills and qualifications.”

“This is an encouraging sign that migrants are integrating well into the labour force,” says Ms Krishnan.

More than 80 percent of recent migrants are satisfied or very satisfied with life in New Zealand, with those who were ‘very satisfied’ increasing by five points in 2011 to 45 percent.

The top reason for migrants moving to New Zealand was to be with family, partner or friends.

The relaxed pace of life was the second most common reason for choosing New Zealand (13 percent), followed by the environment/landscape (11 percent) and the ability to get a good job (11 percent).

New Zealand is also living up to its reputation as a clean, green country, with 60 percent of recent migrants saying it exceeded their expectations upon arrival.

Feeling welcome and safe also exceeded expectations, with half of recent migrants saying they were made to feel more welcome than expected, while 38 percent of respondents found their safety from crime to be better than expected.

Around 70 percent of recent migrants wanted to stay permanently in New Zealand and 89 percent would recommend New Zealand to friends and family, according to the report.

The Labour and Immigration Research Centre in MBIE regularly surveys migrants, employers and the New Zealand public in order to gauge settlement outcomes, employer experiences, and community attitudes towards immigration.
Survey results are also used by Immigration New Zealand, part of MBIE, to develop and present information used to attract potential migrants to New Zealand. This survey also provides information on particularly challenging areas for migrants moving to New Zealand, and highlights where MBIE may be able to provide better information.

ENDS

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