There is no wages case for a permanent cut to immigration
RBA governor Philip Lowe makes a reasonable point about the short-term suppression of wages in some industries. But long-run evidence shows migration lifts demand for workers.
Roland Rajah
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Australia’s closed borders mean net immigration has gone into reverse, with more people leaving than arriving on our shores. The increasingly common view, reinforced by comments from Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe yesterday, is that the absence of new immigrant workers, and the tighter labour market this is helping engender, will be good in the short term for putting upward pressure on domestic wages.