This research seeks to understand the extent that migrant characteristics (such as age, gender, education and English language skills, geographic location, permanent visa category, temporary visa history and country of birth) can predict the economic outcomes or Australian permanent migrants. This analysis is conducted using data from the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project (MADIP).

The research uses three main techniques: Descriptive analysis that visually presents the aggregate economic outcomes of migrants in the years following the grant of a permanent visa. ‘Mincer’ regressions that estimate the marginal impact of covariates on migrant outcomes. These regressions can answer questions such as “If other factors were held equal, how much more does a migrant with a university degree earn compared to one that has not completed high school?”

Oaxaca-Blinder analysis that decomposes the difference in economic outcomes between groups of migrants into components that can be explained by different observable characteristics and unobservable and unexplained components. These decompositions can answer questions such as “how much of the higher income level of Employer Sponsored Migrants can be explained by higher levels of education or English language skills?” and “How much more do Employer Sponsored migrants earn compared to other migrants that can’t be explained by observable characteristics?”

This presentation will also briefly cover two extensions. The first compares the determinants of migrants’ outcomes with similar analysis for the non-migrant population. The second examines how well nominated income predicts the incomes of Employer Sponsored migrants and the extent to which migrants with higher levels of nominated income are explained through observable characteristics.

This event is presented in person and online. Please see Zoom details below.

About the speakers

Professor Robert Breunig, is the director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy. From 2015 to 2016 he was the Director of the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.

Dr Peter Varela is a Research Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute with a focus on the economics of migration and tax policy. Prior to joining the TTPI, Peter has worked at the Australian Treasury, the Australian Productivity Commission and the Centre for International Economics.

This series is spearheaded by the ANU Migration Hub hosted at RegNet, in collaboration with the School of Archaeology and Anthropology.

For online attendance, see Zoom details below:
https://anu.zoom.us/j/86557701787?pwd=cnIreVB5eG8vNmlibWtHMjRKaEtIZz09
(Meeting ID: 865 5770 1787. Password: 836061)

Photo credit: By Lightfield Studios on Adobe Stock