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The Effects Of Immigration On The Labour Market

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The issue of immigration restrictions has been a widely discussed topic in New Zealand, where migrants account for approximately one-quarter of the total population (United Nations, 2015). Some argue that the government has the responsibility to protect native workers, property rights against inflation and taxpayers, thus, should restrict immigration. However, others believe that the immigration policy achieves its intended purpose and that the migrants, eventually, bring tremendous positive economic outcomes, although they cause a few problems. This essay will discuss the debate and outline the effects of immigration on the labour market, the housing market and public funding and will consider the necessity for more restrictions.

Economic considerations play more important roles, in changing immigration policies, than other factors, such as demographics, society, and culture. The immigration history of New Zealand started two hundred years ago. Most people, who migrated to take advantage of opportunities to exploit natural resources, had come from the United Kingdom and Ireland, and had often gone, via Australia, for over 150 years (Phillips, 2013). After the Second World War, the immigration policies focused on the labour market, in respond to the demand for skilled workers (Akbari and MacDonald, 2014). After the post-war baby boom, in 1975 and 1987, immigration policies changed and started to receive migrants, according to their potential contribution and not their

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