The number of long-term arrivals to New Zealand, in the year until August 2015, is the highest ever at more than 60,000. Statistics New Zealand counts the numbers of people who arrive and subtracts those who leave. This gives a net gain. It includes students, people on work visas, working holiday visas and migrants.
More international students arrived in the last year than before, mostly from India and China. The total number was 26,800 students. However, 36,000 new arrivals have a work visa. They are mostly from the Philippines and the UK. Also, a number of New Zealanders who previously worked in Australia are returning here, as our economy was looking stronger. It is true that the economy has now slowed down and the government is concerned that unemployment will increase.
Auckland is the favourite city for new arrivals with 27,000 wanting to find accommodation there. Auckland already has a shortage of houses, and house prices have increased rapidly in recent years. The government is planning a new immigration law to give preference to migrants who plan to live in other areas, not Auckland.
Vocabulary
• subtract (v) – deduct, minus, take away
• net (adj) – opposite is ‘gross’, ‘net’ is often used for business income after subtracting costs
• rapidly (adv) – very fast
Useful Expressions
a shortage of houses (a shortage of money / accommodation / food etc)
give preference to migrants (older people / younger people, rich people, refugees from Syria etc)
Questions
1. Why are so many migrants and others choosing to come here?
2. What can be done to encourage new migrants to move to other cities and towns instead of Auckland?
3. Do new migrants improve the economy or do they take jobs from New Zealanders?