Australian Government Acknowledges Immigrants Are Boon to Economy
The Sydney suburb of Chatswood has become a popular place for Asian immigrants to settle.
Credit
David Maurice Smith for The New York Times

By Adam Baidawi
April 17, 2018

MELBOURNE, Australia — Some members of Australia’s governing Liberal Party want voters to believe immigrants are bad for the economy, draining resources and causing wages to stagnate. But a newly published report, written by the same conservative government, reveals the opposite — immigration is a critical engine of the country’s growth.

The report, first published on Tuesday by Fairfax Media after journalists submitted multiple Freedom of Information requests, concluded that reducing immigration would cost the national budget billions of dollars and reduce job growth.

One of every two Australians is an immigrant, or the child of an immigrant. About a quarter of Australia’s population is foreign born, roughly twice the rate of the United States.

But immigration is a hotly contested issue, especially as Australia’s cities have been growing rapidly without the infrastructure to match, and the far-right contingent of the Liberal Party has been pushing to reduce immigration levels by tens of thousands of immigrants per year.

It’s a cause championed by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton, the immigration minister, who has said he hopes to become prime minister. And while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has generally resisted, his poll numbers are weak and his government is now being accused of pandering to the anti-immigration mood of his party’s fringes in a populist appeal to his conservative base.

Here are the four key takeaways from the report.

Immigrants contribute more than they consume
Immigrants help increase the country’s overall gross domestic product, but they also are responsible for increasing the per capita G.D.P.

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That is to say, immigrants have a net positive impact on the Australian economy because they typically contribute more in tax revenue than the amount they consume in government services.

Younger migrants mean younger workers
Seventy percent of migrants to Australia are skilled and of working age, a crucial antidote to the country’s aging population.

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“By slowing the aging of the population, migration allows the economy and society time to adjust,” the report said.

Moreover, the document explains, higher levels of migration are also associated with less spending per person on social services like health care and education.

Immigrants do not depress wages
Mr. Abbott said early this year that limiting immigration was necessary because of the country’s “stagnant wages.”

The report, however, found that neither wages nor the unemployment rate was affected by migration.

“This is likely explained by the fact that migrants are generally seen as complements to the Australian-born labor force,” the document said.

Migrants helped Australia avoid the 2008 financial crisis
Australia has had 26 consecutive years of economic growth, and avoided the financial crisis that rattled so many of the world’s economies in 2008.

“There is considerable evidence pointing to the role of migrants in sustaining or fostering strong economic growth over the longer term,” the report said.

“This suggests that migration helped the economy successfully weather the Global Financial Crisis and the slow global growth and poor economic conditions that followed.”

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