Migration struggles with a Covid hangover
More migrants than ever came to Australia in the year to June, the latest ABS figures show, with international students driving the rise and people from India and China topping the list of new arrivals.
China and India continue to dominate the ranks of migrant arrivals, new data shows, with a Covid hangover still being felt as fewer temporary migrants leave the country.
Record migration in 2022-23 reveals the impact of pent-up demand to come to Australia during Covid, the Australian Bureau of Statistics study finds, combined with many overseas students delaying the return to their home country so they can finish their courses. The combination has led to annual population growth not seen since the 1950s.
People from India, China, The Philippines and Britain – as well as Australians returning from abroad – were the five largest groups of migrant arrivals, the ABS Overseas Migration report shows. Almost 107,000 people migrated from India in 2022-23, higher than the previous peak in 2019, just before Covid-19 shut down the world. And 89,000 people came from China, more than the 84,000 in 2017, which had marked the previous high point.
Overall migrant arrivals increased 73 per cent to 737,000 from 427,000 in 2021-22, the ABS data shows. The largest share of this group were the 554,000 temporary visa holders, more than half of whom were international students. ABS head of migration statistics Jenny Dobak said the impact of Covid had yet to fully flow through the migration system.
“Many potential migrants didn’t come to Australia in 2020 and 2021 because of border closures and other pandemic impacts (while) in 2022-23 the number of migrants arriving on temporary visas has gone up but the number departing has reduced slightly,” she said. “Due to the impact of travel restrictions during the pandemic, many temporary migrants currently living in Australia have only arrived relatively recently and are not yet required to leave. This has resulted in the smaller number of migrant departures in 2022-23. Before the pandemic there was a constant flow of temporary migrants arriving and departing. This cycle hasn’t returned to a regular pattern and has had an upward impact on net overseas migration in 2022-23.”
She said net overseas migration would begin to trend down in coming years as more international students finish their courses. The ABS this week revealed the nation’s population had been bolstered by 2.4 per cent in the year to June, the fastest annual increase since the 1950s, despite a steep decline in the natural increase (births minus deaths).
Rising population numbers, driven entirely by migration, have become a political issue, with the opposition saying the government is promoting a “Big Australia” policy by stealth, and in doing so heating the housing market to the point it is unaffordable for many.
This week the government set out its agenda on migration, saying it would recalibrate the intake to attract and retain more high-skilled permanent workers and reduce the numbers of temporary workers and students.
The mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, published on Wednesday, projected net overseas migration would drop to 375,000 this financial year and ease to 250,000 in 2024-25.
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