At the start of 2020 there were still tens of thousands of people arriving. Then there was a big rush from people overseas to get home but more recently arrivals have slowed considerably. For the first time in a long time the number of New Zealanders who have arrived here outstripped the number of those who left.
Take the six months last year between April and September when net migration was about 2500 - in any other year that would usually be about 20,000. An absolute catastrophic collapse, is how Infometrics senior economic Brad Olsen describes it. Prior to the pandemic, New Zealand s net migration was falling ever so slowly from about 64,000 in the middle of 2016, down to a broadly 50,000 per annum throughout 2019, the early stages of 2019, he says.
Migration will not return to pre-Covid levels when NZ border reopens, Immigration Minister warns
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Migration will not return to pre-Covid levels when NZ border reopens, Immigration Minister warns
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