A migrant survey has found 6 percent of migrants were unemployed in 2024, up from 4 percent in 2023, and outstripping the average annual unemployment rate last year of 4.9 percent.

The annual survey, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, also showed that the percentage of migrants working for wages and salaries decreased to 84 percent, from 86 percent the previous year.

The challenging economic environment – high inflation and cost of living, poor GDP figures and rising unemployment – has been well-documented, now this survey shows migrant workers disproportionately impacted by rising unemployment. Advocates expect the trend to continue, particularly if visa settings don’t change.

The previous three years had seen that migrant unemployment figure bounce between 2 percent and 4 percent. As the survey was backwards-looking, and the general unemployment rate had continued to rise in 2025, those working in this space said they expected the figures for 2025 to be even higher.

Meanwhile, the survey also found 5 percent of migrant workers were being paid less than the minimum wage, up from 4 percent in 2023, 2 percent in 2022 and 3 percent in 2021.

The survey covers all migrant workers, from those on short-term working visas and partnership visas to residency visas, meaning those working for less than the minimum wage could be working additional unpaid hours or accepting work below the minimum wage if no other options were available. Advocates said this amounted to migrant exploitation.

Migrant Workers’ Association spokesperson Anu Kaloti said there had been an increase in the number of small-to-medium businesses forced into liquidation, during this economic downturn.

Those who had outstanding Inland Revenue or bank debt were being forced to shut up shop, but that meant the workers – whose right to work was tied to those jobs, through the accredited employer visa scheme – also lost their jobs.

Kaloti said some of these failed businesses, having been given accredited employer status, were the same ones that had carried out alleged migrant worker exploitation.

Some of these workers didn’t have a choice, she said. They would take what work they could get – even if it was below the minimum wage. And because those on temporary visas were not generally eligible for any benefits or welfare, there was no safety net to catch them if they lost their job.

“From a worker’s perspective, who is already laden with debt in their home country, there’s pressure to repay that debt and pressure to make a go of life here as well.”

Green Party immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said: “Despite right wing politicians often scapegoating migrants for leaving locals without jobs, we are seeing migrant communities disproportionately affected by a lack of jobs that are in part due to Government-led job cuts.

“Migrant workers often lack a safety net due to lack of support networks or access to welfare, leaving them more vulnerable to hardship and exploitation.

“Rather than pitting migrant workers against locals, Governments need to focus on creating jobs,” he said, adding the Green Party had a policy to create 40,000 jobs to support workers across different industries as part of its $8 billion industrial employment strategy.

Kaloti said the “racist narrative” of migrant workers taking Kiwis’ jobs would, unfortunately, always be there but the facts – like those covered by this survey – showed those beliefs were “full of holes”.

Migrant workers would continue to be disproportionately impacted during economic downturns until the policy of tying work visas to employers stopped, and pathways to residency were relaxed, she said.

During the June quarter, an average of 5.2 percent of people were unemployed, with stories of hundreds of people applying for a single job.

“The problem that we face, the crisis, at the moment the cost of living crisis impacts everybody, all the workers, irrespective of their immigration status or where they come from. So the solutions have to be all inclusive,” Kaloti said.

Meanwhile, advocates, migrants and experts have raised the lack of safeguards and checks in the immigration system, which they believed made it more likely for migrant workers to be impacted by, and exploited during, tough economic times.

When borders reopened after Covid-19 there was an influx of people, but Kaloti said she believed the system was not able to vet newly accredited employers as thoroughly as they should have due to pressures on the system. Some of those newly accredited employers had since shut up shop, leaving migrants without work.

And the approach to immigration settings yet had been “piecemeal”, making for complex rules and systems that were hard for professionals to understand, let alone migrants.

The immigration minister and the social development and employment minister have both been asked for comment.