Page 150 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS193 Michael Beahan

Outcomes for permanent migrants in the Australian labour market
The integration of Australian Government datasets is providing new
insights into the migrant experience and helping to inform government
immigration policy.
The Australian Productivity Commission used two integrated datasets
during its 2015 public inquiry on Australia’s migrant intake to conduct deeper
and more definitive analysis into the variability of migrant outcomes in the
Australian labour market. These were the Australian Census and Migrants
Integrated Dataset (ACMID) and the Personal Income Tax and Migrants
Integrated Dataset (PITMID).
These datasets were developed by integrating Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) Census data and Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data with the
Australian Government’s Settlement Database. This integration work was done
collaboratively by the ABS, the ATO, the Department of Social Services (DSS)
and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).
One focus of the inquiry was the effects of substantially increasing the
charges associated with permanent migrant visas. The Commission developed
a model, drawing on the ACMID and other supplementary datasets, to explore
the impacts of increased use of immigration charges on the composition of
Australia’s permanent migrant intake, including on fiscal outcomes. This
modelling enabled the Commission to make policy recommendations based
on evidence.
The Productivity Commission’s 2016 Inquiry Report Migrant Intake into
Australia found that there were substantial differences for permanent migrants
in the Australian labour market depending on their visa stream.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Life Expectancy
When the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) committed to
closing the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander and non-Indigenous Australians by 2031, one of the initial challenges
was data quality and reliability. Data suggested that the gap in child mortality
had reduced, while the life expectancy gap was showing little improvement.
But before you can be confident of how to fix something this important and
multi-faceted, you need a detailed understanding of the problem.
To help with this, the ABS Mortality Project matched existing death
registrations with data from the 2011 Census, to enable a clearer picture of life
expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The enhanced
data provides a benchmark by which COAG goals are measured, and
ultimately measures the success of closing the gap for life expectancy. Policy
makers can use findings from this data as they chart the course to policy
change and better outcomes.

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