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New Zealand's population is ageing due to a decline in the fertility rate and increases in life expectancy. The purpose of this report is to: examine the current supply of paid caregivers for the elderly in New Zealand by developing a demographic profile of the caregiver workforce in New Zealand; and project the future demand for paid caregivers. The Department of Labour estimates show that 48,200 paid aged-caregivers are needed in 2036 in order to care for older disabled people requiring a high level of support. However, if the status quo is maintained, there will only be 21,400 aged care workers available in 2036. It is evident that processes need to be implemented now, as the current pathway is not sustainable.

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Internationally there is a growing demand for health services. Skilled health workers, including doctors, have a high degree of international mobility and New Zealand (NZ) stands out internationally in terms of the significant flows of doctors in and out of the country. Through changes in training of doctors in NZ and migration flows, there have been major shifts in the composition of the medical workforce in NZ since the mid-1980s. Studies of the changing nature of the medical workforce often focus on gender and migration separately as well as only considering doctors as individuals. The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the living arrangements of doctors, the composition of migrant doctors who are coming to NZ, and to understand the educational and employment status of the partners of doctors.

Half of the female medical doctors approved for residence through the Skilled/Business stream migrated independently, while for male doctors less than a third came to NZ independently. Male migrant doctors were more likely to be partnered. Well-qualified couples where one or both are doctors, have a greater propensity to live in main urban areas. Through official reports and extensive media coverage, the NZ public is well aware of local and national doctor shortages. There is also awareness, often through personal visits to a [general practitioner] GP or hospital, of the significant rise in number of female and of foreign-born doctors. The choices doctors are making in living arrangements need to be taken into account when considering both national and international recruitment of medical staff. Researchers and policy makers may need to consider family migration issues more than they have in the past for doctors as well as for other migrant groups.

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In New Zealand, as in all industrialised countries, demand for health services has been increasing. Studies of the changing nature of medical workforce often focus on gender and migration separately. In addition, the living arrangements of doctors are rarely considered. This study uses both migration and census data to focus on three main questions. In the last two decades (1986 to 2006), how has the mix of doctors changed in terms of sex and whether born in New Zealand overall, and what are the differences across the main urban areas, other urban areas and rural areas? How have the living arrangements for doctors changed over this time period? If in a couple, how have the educational and employment status of partners changed over this time period?

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Asian workers are a critical part of New Zealand's current and future labour market. In 2026 they will comprise 15 per cent of our total working age population. Significant changes in the composition of New Zealand's population over the last two decades have resulted in a greater ethnic diversity in New Zealand, especially in our workforce. These changes have several labour market implications such as changing attitudes, values and approach to work. This report contributes to existing labour-related analysis of the diverse Asian workforce in New Zealand. It provides a 2006 baseline (using Census data) from which to monitor future trends in the employment and labour market outcomes of the Asian workforce. The 2006 Census showed that Asians comprised the fourth largest major group of ethnicities in New Zealand after European, Maori and Other, comprising 9.2 per cent of our population. This proportion is expected to increase to approximately 15 per cent by 2026. There is a high level of diversity within the Asian ethnic groups. Asians in New Zealand differ widely in areas such as language, culture and settlement history. All of these factors can impact on labour market outcomes. A growing proportion of our future labour supply will be Asian and currently, there is a dearth of detailed information about the Asian workforce, and the distinctive parts of the labour market that they occupy. Therefore as it is important to understand and improve the performance of New Zealand's labour market, the information gained from this analysis will be useful when preparing employers and consumers for a more ethnically diverse workforce in the future. The two main objectives associated with this report are: (1) to examine the skill level and qualifications of the Asian workforce in New Zealand; and (2) to gain an understanding of the occupations and industries in which the Asian workforce is employed.

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New Zealand's population is rapidly ageing. It is estimated that in 2031 those 65 and older will represent 35 per cent of the population aged 15-64. While part of this increase is due to healthy ageing, nevertheless the number of people requiring some form of care is projected to dramatically increase. It is projected that 48,200 paid caregivers will be needed by 2036 to look after a growing number of older disabled New Zealanders requiring high levels of care and support. It is highly unlikely that the local supply will be sufficient to meet this demand. Therefore immigration of low-skill workers needs to be considered as a part of the measures needed to alleviate the future pressures on the demand for paid caregivers for the elderly. New Zealand does not have a formal scheme for caregiver migration. However there has been a rapid and growing reliance on migrant caregivers for the elderly over the last five years. Globally as the demand for elder care grows, New Zealand may not be able to rely on the current sources of migrant caregivers for the elderly and alternative regions such as Melanesia and non-traditional parts of Asia need to be considered. While temporary migration is one option, programmes that provide pathways to permanent migration also need to be considered.

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This report details the findings from the 2007 Settlement Experience Feedback Survey (SEFS) of migrants who took up residence in New Zealand through the Skilled/Business Stream from January 2006 to June 2006. The survey is sent out to these migrants 12 months after residence approval or arrival into New Zealand. Therefore, these migrants were surveyed from 1 January 2007 to 31 June 2007. This report also contains information on trends (from 2005 to 2007) on the key settlement outcomes of principal applicants.

The SEFS was designed to monitor and provide a detailed picture of early settlement outcomes (i.e. the first year of settlement) for skilled/business stream migrants who took up residence in New Zealand. In its current form, the SEFS collects information regarding specific aspects of migrants’ settlement outcomes in New Zealand, including employment and personal income, satisfaction with housing and children’s schooling, and access to core services, as well as likes, dislikes and satisfaction with living in New Zealand. The SEFS questionnaire was successfully sent out to 1,054 addresses, of which 601 responded to the survey, generating a 57 per cent response rate.

Skilled migrants in New Zealand are a diverse group. This report shows that the early settlement outcomes of skilled migrants are positive. Employment is a key determinant for positive settlement, and this report shows that over 90 per cent of skilled principal applicants were employed at the time of the survey. Despite a few areas of dissatisfaction, skilled migrants were mainly pleased with living in New Zealand, their jobs, their children’s schools and their homes, and planned to live in New Zealand for at least five or more years.

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New Zealand has a long history of gendered migration and this has affected the overall gender balance in the population. This report attempts to provide a starting point for discussions about gendered migration into New Zealand. While there has always been some female component to migration flows, over the past 20 years the gender balance of international migration flows has changed considerably and developed in response to a number of factors. These include gender selective demand for foreign labour, economic development and subsequent changes in gender relations in countries of origin and countries of destination. According to the 2003 ILO [International Labour Organisation] report, female migrants constitute nearly 51 per cent of all migrants in developed countries and about 46 per cent of all migrants in developing countries. In most developing regions females are increasingly migrating independently not just as dependants or family members. Despite a growing significance of the global feminisation of migration, including the feminisation of labour market related migration, this area has attracted little research or policy attention in the New Zealand context. Patterns of gendered migration from our main source countries have received little attention in the New Zealand context, despite the growth in migration from these countries. This report attempts to provide a starting point for discussions about gendered migration.

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