Australian Immigration Daily News

The following information was delivered in a speech today by Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia:

The increase in Australia's population growth over the past decade is largely due to increased immigration; the rate of natural increase has not changed that much (Graph 2). Over recent times, net overseas migration has, on average, added around 1 per cent to our population each year. The increase from natural sources has averaged around 0.7 per cent per year.

There has been a reasonable amount of year-to-year variation in net overseas migration. Migration increased sharply at the height of the resources boom when demand for skilled labour was very strong, and then subsequently declined as the mining investment boom came to an end. In this way, migration has helped our economy adjust to large swings in the demand for labour. It has also helped address some particular skills shortages.

A second factor that accounts for the step-up in the level of migration and the year-to-year variation is a marked increase in the number of overseas students studying in Australia and changes in the policies around student visas. There are currently more than 500,000 overseas students studying in Australia.

Over recent times, it has been common for around one-sixth of foreign students to stay and live and work in Australia after completing their studies. [1] This has boosted our population. It has also boosted the nation's human capital. People living in Australia who were born overseas are more likely than the average Australian to have a postsecondary school qualification (Graph 3). We also benefit from stronger overseas connections when foreign students return home after studying in Australia.

Source: Philip-Lowe---Governor-of-the-RBA---migration-and-polulation.pdf