Who Left, Who Returned and Who Was Still Away? Migration Patterns of 2003 Graduates, 2004-2010

Abstract

New Zealand’s stock of skills is significantly affected by external migration flows - more so than almost any other developed country. Lack of information, particularly on outward migration, has restricted analysis in the past. However the recent integration of data on border movements into Statistics NZ’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) has opened up new avenues for research. This paper uses this new data to produce descriptive statistics on the extent that graduates from tertiary education institutes leave New Zealand post-completion, and the extent to which they return again. It looks at the cohort of New Zealand students who completed a tertiary qualification in 2003 (the earliest year possible) and looks at migration outcomes up to and including 2010.