International Migration and the Rainbow Nation

Abstract

Recent statistics suggest that emigration from South Africa is accelerating while documented immigration remains at low levels. Primary analysis of a 10% sample of the overseas-born in South Africa from the 1996 census confirmed that Black immigrants to South Africa were shown to be predominantly unskilled males, who were no better qualified than the Black population in general. This contrasts with the apartheid era when South Africa built up a stock of overseas-born skilled workers, mostly Whites, which was not replenished in the 1990s, partly because of restrictive immigration policies. The UK is the major destination for S outh Africans but lacks detailed data on the characteristics of the immigrants. The second destination is Australia and New Zealand combined. Comparisons are made with published census data on the South Africa-born in Australia and New Zealand. A majority of emigrants have post-school qualifications and professional occupations, reflecting the selective immigration criteria of Australia and New Zealand. The analysis confirms the importance of human capital to potential emigrants even though they may wish to move for non-economic reasons. It also supports the view that South Africa had moved from a brain exchange of Whites to a brain drain, thus compounding a national shortage of skilled workers.