And now, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released new comprehensive information about the employment outcomes of migrants and just how much they contribute to Australia’s workforce.
New statistics, based on annual personal income tax data, have been added to the jobs in Australia and personal income in Australia datasets for the first time.
In 2019–20, migrants held 26.3 per cent of all jobs in Australia (5.3 million jobs, worked by 3.6 million migrants). This was slightly below their 29.8 per cent share of Australia’s population.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said the addition of migrant information (from the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project) into rich labour market datasets allows us to better understand labour market outcomes of migrants working in Australia.
“For the first time, this includes insights into both temporary and permanent migrants,” he said.
Of the total number of jobs held by migrants, over half (56.6 per cent) were held by permanent migrants, 29.5 per cent were held by temporary migrants, and 12.9 per cent were held by New Zealand citizens.
“The largest employing industries of migrants were administrative and support services (14.1 per cent of jobs held by migrants); healthcare and social assistance (12.1 per cent); and accommodation and food services (11.3 per cent),” Mr Jarvis said.
The latest data also offers new insights about permanent and temporary migrants’ personal income.
“Almost 4 million migrant taxpayers earned more than $230 billion in total personal income in 2019–20.” Mr Jarvis said.
The median annual personal income for migrants was $45,351 in 2019–20, compared with $52,338 for the population as a whole.
Migrants living in the ACT had the highest median income ($52,439), while those in Tasmania had the lowest ($31,093). This aligns with the highest and lowest income earners in states and territories for all Australians.
However, migrants living in Western Australia had the second-highest median income ($51,501), while Western Australia ranks third among all Australian income earners (behind the Northern Territory).
