Many of
these people are fleeing for Australia, with the highest number of Kiwis moving to the Lucky Country in more than a decade.
Some 47,300 of those good people left New Zealand for Australia.
It’s easy to imagine the motivations. The hope of a better job, more pay, better schools, cheaper homes apart from in Sydney, better healthcare, perhaps even better weather.
Migrant arrivals in the 12 months to May, meanwhile, fell 26% when compared with the previous year, to 139,400.
So, we have an annual net migration gain of 14,900 in the year to May this year –that’s about the size of Havelock North.
Because of this relatively low volume, statistically we are also unlikely to see those people come here and kickstart our stuttering economy with a sense of enterprise.
Many are also coming from parts of the world where they have fewer economic opportunities.
Of those who did come to New Zealand in the last year, returning Kiwis made up the majority, followed closely by those from India, then China and the Philippines.
We don’t make things in New Zealand anymore and we’re not a professional service hub. We export goods from our primary industry and during the past two decades we have relied on migration to grow economically.
The slowing number of non-New Zealand citizens coming here and record number leaving clearly reflects the weak position of our economy.
“The cooling in net immigration inflows from late 2023 peaks look to be a major factor contributing to the sluggish pace of consumer demand and the housing market of late,” ASB senior economist Mark Smith said.
Meanwhile, our tourism sector continues its fight to survive. Overseas visitor arrivals in May were 87% below pre-pandemic levels, Stats NZ said.
They did, however, increase slightly year-on-year.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, speaking to journalists about the numbers, specifically those lost to Australia, said it was “always a bad sign to be losing people”.
He continued by saying we had work to do to ensure New Zealand was a place people wanted to come to and build their lives.
Using immigration as a primary tool to drive economic growth can be risky business. And now we face, in this increasingly insular-looking world, the danger of not attracting enough people to offset those we lose.
Even more importantly, we must ensure those we do bring home and attract are the right people with a mindset to help benefit and grow this country.
Otherwise, we will simply continue to tread water.
Sign up to the Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
