The number of people in New Zealand on work visas has only dropped by 20% since border restrictions were introduced as part of the pandemic response last year.
The latest figures from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment show that the number of people in NZ on work visas peaked at 220,719 at the end of March 2020.
Since then those numbers have steadily declined, and by the end of October this year were down to 176,550.
Although that's a reduction of 44,169 from last year's peak, which is a decline of 20%, it suggests most of the overseas workers who were in NZ when the borders were closed are still here.
While there has been a net reduction in overseas workers each month, the decline has been relatively modest, with the total number currently declining by around 2000 a month.
Of the 176,550 people who were in NZ on work visas at the end of October, 46,206 were from India, 26,328 were from the Philippines, 17,163 were from China and 11,220 were from the UK.
In percentage terms the border closures appear to have had a bigger impact on the number of overseas students in the country.
Their numbers peaked at 86,109 in October 2019, but by October this year had fallen to 38,178, a drop of 44%.
October is usually the peak month for overseas student numbers, with numbers then declining as their studies come to an end for the year.
So there could be a a more significant decline in overseas student numbers over the next couple of months.
Students from China and India have shown the biggest declines in numbers, with the number of Chinese students in the country declining from the peak of 25,959 in October 2017 to 11,346 at the end of October this year.
The number of Indian students has declined from its peak of 21,600 in February 2016 to 6096 at the end of October this year.
Altogether there were 224,481 people in NZ on work or student visas at the end of October this year, down from 302,754 at the end of March last year when comprehensive border restrictions were introduced. That's a decline of 78,273, or 25.9%.
The comment stream on this story is now closed.
- You can have articles like this delivered directly to your inbox via our free Property Newsletter. We send it out 3-5 times a week with all of our property-related news, including auction results, interest rate movements and market commentary and analysis. To start receiving them, register (it's free) and when approved you can select any of our free email newsletters.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.