Original articleLiving here, born there: The economic life of Australia's immigrants

A standard conclusion is that recent immigrants perform less well economically than the longer-term population. This paper investigates economic outcomes of immigrants to Australia. The history of Australian immigration policy is reviewed. Pre- and post-1996 immigration are compared using criteria that emphasize ability to make economic contributions. Entry conditions for immigrants to Australia resulted in new immigrants who were, on average, better educated than the local population and more likely to be computer literate. Post-1996 immigrants from Lebanon, North Africa and Vietnam overall did worse in terms of household income, employment status of occupation and housing conditions than local born and pre-1996 settled immigrants from these countries; however, arrivals from Europe, Britain and Irish and New Zealand did equally well or better than native Australians and settled immigrants. The Chinese were the most successful non-European group with a half holding professional or managerial jobs. However, econometric analysis shows that ancestry per se is not a strong indicator of immigrant economic success, which is closely associated with education level and time of arrival.