March-year migration rises, according to provisional data

By Gavin Evans

May 14 (BusinessDesk) - Provisional migration data suggests the country gained a net 4,500 permanent and long-term residents in March, down from a revised 8,565 in February but up from 3,396 in March last year.

That takes the provisional net gain for the 12 months through March to 56,100 from 55,065 in the February year and 50,600 for the March 2018 year, Stats NZ says.

The provisional 12-month figure may be adjusted higher or lower by about 1,600, the government statistician says.

The latest figures are subject to large revisions for the next four to five months. Stats NZ formally changed the way it measures migration in November when it stopped using arrival and departure cards travellers used to have to complete.

It said the card-based data hadn’t been accurate because it only captured travellers’ intentions and not what actually happened.

Were the latest figures to stand, the March inflow will be the most for that month since 2016. The 12-month figure would be the highest since the year ended March 2017.

The February month figure was cut from the 9,394 estimate published in April, while the 12-month figure was cut from the 61,576 initially estimated the same month.

(BusinessDesk)

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