Learning From Past Mistakes
In 1991, the New Zealand Government introduced a points system for migration called the General Category. Later this became the General Skills Category.
Anyone whose qualifications, age, work experience, etc, was "worth" sufficient points was granted permanent residence in New Zealand. With the advent of the points-based system, thousands of highly qualified people arrived. These new arrivals took up residence in their dream country, Godzone, and promptly found themselves unemployed.
In the second half of 2004 Statistics New Zealand released a 2001 census analysis of unemployment rates for degree-qualified new arrivals. For some countries, migrant unemployment rates were very high.
Unemployment Rates for Degree Qualified Migrants to 2001
| Immigrants' Country of Origin | Unemployment rates 0 - 4 years after arrival | Unemployment rates 5 - 9 years after arrival |
| North West Europe | 4% | 2% |
| Sub Saharan Africa | 6% | 3% |
| The Americas | 741 | 5% |
| Oceania | 8% | 4% |
| South East Asia | 12% | 8% |
| Southern/Eastern Europe | 14% | 8% |
| Southern And Central Asia | 21% | 10% |
| North East Asia | 22% | 12% |
| North Africa/Middle East | 29% | 15% |
The statistics seem to show that unemployment rates fell with the length of time migrants spent in New Zealand. Unfortunately, unemployment did not fall just because migrants were finding work.
The unemployment rate dropped because migrants became fed-up of being unemployed in New Zealand and left. Having left, they did not appear in the next census and therefore were not around to add to the long-term unemployment statistics. This reasoning is supported by figures in the Winkelmann Report.
The Winkelmann Report found that in the late 1990's one quarter to one third of migrants left New Zealand within five years of arrival. One of the factors leading to departure was certainly unemployment.
The lowest unemployment rates were found among migrants from North-west Europe (mainly the UK), Sub-Saharan Africa (mainly South Africa), the Americas (mainly North America) and Oceania.
Clearly the goal of the NZ Government in implementing the Skilled Migrant Category policy in 2004 was to avoid repeating the embarrassing employment statistics shown in the table above.
SMC has drawn much criticism, some justified. There is no denying, however, that if SMC policy prevents much of the private anguish and disappointment the figures above represent, its implementation will have been the right thing to do.
