Seasonal migrant plan proves a triple winner

Up to 8000 seasonal workers mainly from the Pacific sign up each year. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

New Zealand's seasonal migration scheme is helping some migrants to boost their household income back in their home countries by almost 40 per cent, a University of Waikato researcher told an immigration conference yesterday.

Professor John Gibson said research by the university found that New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme proved a triple winner - benefiting the local horticulture and viticulture industry, the seasonal workers and the country's economy.

The scheme draws up to 8000 workers annually, mostly from Pacific nations, but Professor Gibson says more countries should be let in on the scheme.

Nearly three-quarters of workers are from Tonga and Vanuatu.

"Our research provides further evidence that migration is one of the most effective ways to boost development in poor countries," Professor Gibson said.

"Coupled with analysis which shows improvements in productivity for growers that hire these workers and very low rates of overstaying and modest impacts on the native labour force, these results suggest more countries should give season-worker programmes a chance."

The study, which Professor Gibson conducted with Dr David McKenzie of the World Bank, looked at the impact of the scheme on the countries the participants came from.

The researchers worked on a sample of 900 households in Tonga and Vanuatu between 2007 and this year, and visited the households four times over three years.

They found per capita incomes of households sending workers were about 40 per cent higher than those who did not have workers recruited.

"They are more likely to make dwelling improvements, to open bank accounts and to make major purchases of durable goods," said Professor Gibson.

"And in Tonga we found substantial increases in secondary school attendance for 15- to 18-year-olds in households participating in the scheme."

The two-day Pathways, Circuits and Crossroads conference was run by Massey University, the University of Waikato and the Department of Labour.

Massey University sociologist Paul Spoonley, who delivered the closing remarks, said the "general feel" was that New Zealand's immigration policies were working "far better" than most other countries'.

"New Zealand isn't seeing the anti-immigrant politics that we see in the USA and Europe, where we have seen a rise in anti-immigrant sentiments in the last year or so mainly because of the recession," said Professor Spoonley, an immigration specialist.

Big gains

* 8000 workers come each year on the seasonal employee scheme.

* 40 per cent increase in household incomes of some of the workers.

* 900 households in Tonga and Vanuatu studied.