Migration: social benefits 'far outweigh the costs'

July 24, 2007

Migrants to Australia are generally healthier, better educated, more law-abiding, and less dependent on welfare payments than the average Australian-born citizen. These are some of the findings of a large-scale national study of the effects of migration on Australian society.

The 18-month study, conducted by a team of researchers from the University of New England's Centre for Applied Research in Social Sciences (CARSS), found that the social benefits of migration far outweighed the costs.

Led by UNE's Professor Kerry Carrington, the project included extensive field work in metropolitan and regional centres of Australia. The researchers talked to government, business, and community leaders, and to "focus groups" of local people. "The main aim of the community studies," Professor Carrington said, "was to capture a snapshot of how key stakeholders and a cross-section of ordinary Australians perceive and experience the social impact of migration at a local level."

The researchers found only a "marginal" incidence of racial prejudice or resistance to migration (based on concerns about English proficiency, cultural integration, and religious fundamentalism), while there was a widespread appreciation of the cultural and social enrichment that migration brings.

Titled The Social Costs and Benefits of Migration into Australia, the report on the study was published last week and is available on the Web site of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship at : http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/social-costs-benefits/index.htm.
It is also available on the CARSS Web site: http://www.une.edu.au/carss/. The project was overseen by the Joint Commonwealth, State and Territory Research Advisory Committee of the Ministerial Council of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.

"There are very few social costs associated with migration," Professor Carrington said, "and most of these are short-term integration issues that relate mostly to the humanitarian intake. However, most migrants – including those arriving through the humanitarian intake – have over time learnt English, acquired qualifications, and done well. Furthermore, they are generally ambitious for their children to achieve and to have better opportunities in life. So it is the second generation that enjoys most of the benefits of migration."

UNE's Professor Jim Walmsley, the co-editor of the report, said the research "dispelled a number of myths about the impact of migrants on the host community". He said there was no real evidence of a "migrant underclass", and that any anxiety about the formation of "ethnic enclave ghettos" was unfounded. "On the contrary," he said, "the available evidence overwhelmingly supports the view that migrants to Australia have made substantial contributions to Australia's stock of human, social and produced capital."

The research report will be a valuable resource for policy makers at all levels of government, as well as migrant communities themselves. It includes a chapter that looks to the future of migration in the light of an understanding that "migration is no longer confined to poor people seeking a better life, but relates to a large and growing cohort of people living as global citizens seeking careers and personal development across the world".

Posted by Jim Scanlan at July 24, 2007 03:45 PM