Pacific migrants employed but paid less

Media Release

Pacific migrants just as likely to be employed as other migrants, but lower paid

Three years after arriving in New Zealand, 95 percent of Pacific migrants were either very satisfied or satisfied with New Zealand.

Isabelle Sin, Senior Fellow at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, researched a group of Pacific migrants who gained residence approval in New Zealand between November 2004 and October 2005.

The research, conducted for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, followed their outcomes until 2017 using a range of data sources. Comparisons made focussed on migrants from Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, and migrants who gained residence on different types of visas.

“In the first three years after residence was approved, satisfaction with New Zealand and feelings of being settled were generally high regardless of the economic success in New Zealand of the migrants. However, satisfaction and feelings of being settled did decline over this period,” said Dr Sin.

A high proportion of the Pacific migrants studied were still in New Zealand twelve years after gaining residence.

“The proportion of migrants from Samoa and Tonga who stayed was below 80 percent, while around 90 percent of those from Fiji or other Pacific countries were still in Aotearoa twelve years later,” said Dr Sin.

Over 2005 to 2017, the Pacific migrants had a similar likelihood of being employed compared to non-Pacific migrants of the same gender.

“It’s important to note though, that Pacific migrants of both genders earned considerably lower wages than non-Pacific migrants and were more likely to receive benefits,” said Dr Sin. “Those with limited English and low education levels appear to have been caught in low-paying or part-time work.”

The Pacific migrants seemed particularly vulnerable to weak economic conditions.

“During the Global Financial Crisis, Pacific migrants experienced larger increases in receiving benefits than non-Pacific migrants. The proportion of female Pacific migrants in our sample receiving a benefit rose from 7 percent in 2006 to over 20 percent in 2010, and fell only gradually over the following years,” said Dr Sin.

Migrants from other regions who were entitled to benefits did not always succeed in accessing the available benefit, whereas Pacific migrants were successful at accessing benefits to which they were entitled.

Despite their low wages, over half Samoan and Tongan migrants said they sent money back home to others.

“In comparison, only 14 percent of non-Pacific migrants sent money overseas,” said Dr Sin.

“Low levels of education and low English proficiency are likely to have been important explanations for Pacific migrants’ weak economic outcomes. Pacific migrants were much less likely than other migrants to report that English was the language they spoke best (38 percent vs 62 percent), although only 12 percent stated that their English was poor compared with 8 percent of other migrants,” said Dr Sin.

“Furthermore, only 9 percent of Pacific migrants for whom English was not their best language studied English in New Zealand. In contrast, 40 percent of such non-Pacific migrants did so. This may help explain why after twelve years in New Zealand Pacific migrants who arrived with poor English still had low employment and wages.”

Housing outcomes of the Pacific migrants were closely linked to their economic outcomes.

“Fijian migrants, who had comparatively strong economic outcomes, had a home ownership rate of 45 percent in 2013, compared with around 10 percent for other Pacific migrants,” said Dr Sin. “Over 50 percent of those on Skilled/Business visas owned homes in 2013.”