Survey says firms helped by migrants

A new survey shows employers are pleased with the skilled migrants they are hiring, with more than half saying they thought employing a migrant had benefited their organisation more than hiring a New Zealander.

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said the survey, carried out to see how well the Department of Labour was meeting employers' needs during skills shortages, found 81 percent of employers were satisfied with the performance of migrants they had working for them.

The survey also found 56 percent of employers thought their organisation had "benefited more" from employing a migrant than it would have from employing a New Zealand resident.

The main benefits employers noted about hiring migrants were that they contributed to the organisation's knowledge, possessed skills New Zealand residents did not have, raised the organisation's level of expertise, contributed to the organisation's growth and had innovative practices, the survey said.

The work performance of migrant employees was not affected by any difficulties with the English language in 90 percent of cases.

The survey found 69 percent of migrants in the sample were still working for the employer they were hired by when their resident or work-to-residence application was approved.

Twenty-seven percent of migrants had left the job, and of these 41 percent had gone to work for another New Zealand employer. The occupations they filled varied from corporate managers, teaching professionals to people working in the physical science and engineering fields.

- NZPA