The Impact of Immigration on the Geographic Mobility of New Zealanders

Steven Stillman and David Maré

No 07_05, Working Papers from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

Abstract: This paper uses data from the New Zealand Census to examine how the supply of recent migrants in particular skill groups affects the geographic mobility of the New Zealand-born and earlier migrants. We identify the impact of recent migration on mobility using the 'areaanalysis' approach, which exploits the fact that immigration is spatially concentrated, and thus a change in the local supply of migrants in a particular skill group should have an impact on the mobility of similarly skilled non-migrants in that local labour market. Overall, our results provide little support for the hypothesis that migrant inflows displace either the NZ-born or earlier migrants with similar skills in the areas that new migrants are settling. If anything, they suggest that there are positive spillovers between recent migrants and other individuals that encourage individuals to move to or remain in the areas in which similarly skilled migrants are settling. Thus, it appears unlikely that internal mobility moderates any potential impacts of immigration on labour or housing markets in New Zealand.

Keywords: Immigration; Mobility; New Zealand; Labour Market Areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2007-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://motu-www.motu.org.nz/wpapers/07_05.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Immigration on the Geographic Mobility of New Zealanders (2010)
Working Paper: The Impact of Immigration on the Geographic Mobility of New Zealanders (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mtu:wpaper:07_05

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