Series
Survey of the Dynamics and Motivations for Migration
en-NZDMM
en-NZThe Survey of Dynamics and Motivations for Migration in New Zealand (DMM) is the first statistical dataset describing the motivations behind people's decisions to move to another area or to stay in an area. The primary focus of this survey is to provide an understanding of the drivers behind internal migration in New Zealand, and give some understanding of the interaction between the drivers. The survey data will not only provide benchmark data at a national level, but will allow for some initial analysis at the subnational level. The DMM survey was a supplement to the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) for the March 2007 quarter. Internationally, there have been few surveys on the motivations for moving or not moving between different areas within a country. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) undertook a similar survey in Queensland and Victoria in 2000 and we also know of a Scandinavian study of a similar kind. So the data is rare and unique and will hopefully be the background to a series of new research papers on migration in this country.
en-NZCensus data provides answers to many research questions on internal migration, but in this country so far there has been very limited survey information on the motivations behind people’s decisions to move or not to move and individual perceptions of the consequences of that move. Some topical research questions on internal migration are:
- What types of people show greater propensity to move or not to move?
- Why do people move or not move?
- What are the characteristics of the internal migration flows?
Information on the motivations for internal migration is of interest when informing government policy on development and sustainability. In particular, any variability of this information with respect to demographic characteristics and geographic detail will be fundamental to any sound policy debate on regional development.
en-NZThe Survey of the Dynamics and Motivation for Migration in New Zealand 2007 (DMM) is the first survey on internal migration at a national level in this country. The migration research community has shown a lot of interest in this survey, so it is expected there will be a high level of future use of the data for research projects over the next two to three years. A DMM micro dataset is currently in use in the Data Laboratory by Professor Phil Morrison, Victoria University and his PhD student Michael Sloan. A Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) dataset on CD ROM has been requested by several researchers. Papers have been presented at overseas conferences and being published in well known journals.
University researchers, local government
9 One-off
Studies
Coverage
Survey of the Dynamics and Motivation for Migration
The Survey of Dynamics and Motivations for Migration in New Zealand (DMM) is the first statistical dataset describing the motivations behind people's decisions to move to another area or to stay in an area. The primary focus of this survey is to provide an understanding of the drivers behind internal migration in New Zealand, and give some understanding of the interaction between the drivers. The survey data will not only provide benchmark data at a national level, but will allow for some initial analysis at the subnational level.
The DMM survey was a supplement to the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) for the March 2007 quarter.
en-NZMethodology
Information content and structure The DMM personal questionnaire contains the following sections: Section A: Establishes usual residence at time of interview, and at the 2001 and 2006 Census dates. This includes stating the country of usual residence at those dates, and stating whether the respondent has changed usual residence in the last two years. Section B: Those respondents who have moved in the previous two years provide information on location of previous usual residence; timing of move; reasons for moving from the previous location; reasons for moving to current usual residence; ratings of environment, housing; standard of living, social life, and overall at current location compared with previous usual residence; living arrangement at current time and at the time of the move; occupation at current time and at time of move from previous usual residence; and change in income as a result of the move. The respondent is then asked whether he/she is planning to move within the next two years. Section C: Those respondents who have arrived from overseas within the previous two years provide information on their country (and the state, if Australia) before coming to New Zealand, length of stay in that country, timing of arrival in New Zealand; location of settlement in New Zealand, reasons for coming to New Zealand, reasons for choosing to live at current usual residence, and length of stay at current usual residence. Section D: Those respondents who have not moved in the previous two years provide information on length of stay at current usual residence; reasons for staying at the current usual residence; ratings of environment, housing, standard of living, social life and overall at current usual residence; living arrangement at current time and two years ago; occupation at current time and at time of move from previous usual residence; and change in income compared with two years ago. The respondent is then asked whether he/she is planning to move within the next two years. Section E: Those respondents who have moved or have arrived from overseas in the previous two years provide reasons for choosing to live at their current usual residence. The main reason is also given. Respondents provide ratings of environment, housing, standard of living, social life, and overall, at current usual residence compared with previous overseas usual residence. Section F: Those respondents who have moved or arrived from overseas in the previous two years provide information on living arrangements at current time and at the time of the move to current address or New Zealand, occupation at current time and at time of move from previous address or overseas address, and change in income as a result of the move to current address or New Zealand. The respondent is then asked whether he/she is planning to move within the next two years. Section G: Those respondents who are planning to move within the next two years provide information on where they are planning to move to (country, state, location within New Zealand), timing of move, reasons for planning to move, country of birth, and income level. Section H: Those respondents who are not planning to move within the next two years provide information on reasons for wanting to stay at the same usual address, country of birth, and income level. Reasons for moving or not moving have been coded according to a set of classifications that has been developed for DMM. A main advantage of DMM being a supplement to the HLFS is the availability of many core variables in HLFS that can be combined with responses to DMM. In this Hot Off The Press, HLFS information on age, sex, ethnicity, marital status, occupation and address of usual residence has been combined with respondent information from DMM.
The target population for individuals is The civilian usually resident non-institutionalised New Zealand population aged 15 and over usually resident in permanent private dwellings. It excludes individuals who are:
- long-term residents of retirement homes, hospitals and psychiatric institutions (a long-term resident is defined as a resident of six weeks or more);
- not New Zealand-residents (e.g. a member of a diplomatic or trade mission, a foreign embassy, or an overseas armed force);
- not resident (i.e. have not been, or will not be, resident in New Zealand for 12 months or more);
- not in private households (i.e. they reside in hotels, motels, institutions, etc.);
- inmates of penal institutions;
- temporarily staying in non-private dwellings (i.e. for 6 weeks or more) when contact is attempted at their private dwellings;
- temporarily overseas (i.e. for 6 weeks or more) when contact is attempted;
- members of the New Zealand permanent armed forces;
- members of non-New Zealand armed forces stationed in New Zealand and their dependents;
- not living in permanent dwellings (i.e. they reside in tents, caravans not permanently sited, etc.). The target population for households is Households in New Zealand with at least one eligible member of the target population for the individual survey. The survey has a household and a personal questionnaire. These questionnaires are supplementary to the HLFS and the surveys therefore share the HLFS survey population.
The survey population for persons is the target population with the following exclusions:
- Residents of islands other than the North Island, South Island and Waiheke Island (e.g. Great Barrier, Kawau, Chatham and Stewart Islands). The survey population for households is Households in New Zealand with at least one eligible member of the survey population for the individual DAMM survey.
Since the DMM Survey is a supplement to the HLFS, the design is the same as the HLFS sample design. All respondents in the HLFS are asked to participate in the DMM Survey. However, the household will be ineligible for both the household and personal DMM surveys, and excluded from analysis, if it is ineligible for HLFS. (For the HLFS, all eligible members of the household must respond to the HLFS (or have proxy responses on their behalf).
en-NZCoverage
Household Labour Force Survey demographic data
Methodology
A main advantage of the DMM survey being a supplement to the HLFS is the availability of many core variables in HLFS that can be combined with responses to the DMM. HLFS information on age, sex, ethnicity, country of birth, family code, marital status, occupation and address of usual residence has been combined with respondent information from DMM.
en-NZ