FOCUS ON INDIAN MIGRANTS PERSONAL INCOME

Indian immigration to Australia

The Indian Australian community is culturally and linguistically diverse with settlers from India as well as settlers of Indian origin from other countries (HC India, 2015). Personal income levels in India are considered to be quite low by international standards. Whilst a large and well-educated middle class exists, the average Indian income sits at around 10 per cent of the average Australian income. The opportunity for skilled workers to greatly improve their circumstances by emigrating to Australia provides an attractive economic incentive. Skilled workers are attracted by higher living standards and the already established Indian communities in Australia (DIBP, 2014).

The Australian Government’s Migration Programme focusses on targeted economic migration through education and skills selection, entrepreneurialism and family reunion of immediate family members. In 2011-12 India became the main source of new permanent migrants to Australia for the very first time. Indian migrants accounted for almost 16 per cent of the Migration Programme, followed by Chinese migrants at 14%. This reflected an ongoing trend towards more migrants from the Asian continent heading for our shores with seven of the top 10 source countries in 2011–12 located in the Asia region (DIAC, 2013).

The 2011 Census shows us that 295,362 Australians identified as Indian-born, with 40% aged 25 to 34 years of age. This meant that Indian migrants were one of the largest groups of permanent migrants in Australia. A further 390,894 people identified Indian ancestry.

Indian migration increased dramatically from 2006 to 2011, with 53% arriving during that period (ABS, 2013).

	Born in India		All overseas born
	No	%	No	%
Before 1941	170	0.1	16 681	0.3
1941 - 1950	2 027	0.7	106 647	2.0
1951 - 1960	1 697	0.6	375 076	7.1
1961 - 1970	10 319	3.5	642 355	12.1
1971 - 1910	11 595	3.9	571 828	10.8
1981 - 1990	17 659	6.0	782 926	14.8
1991 - 2000	36 765	12.4	786 777	14.9
2001 - 2005	48 949	16.6	581 597	11.0
2006 - 2011 (a)	159 326	52.9	1 190 322	22.5

(a) Includes "1 January 2006" to "9 August 2011".
Source: QuickStats Country of Birth, India, Census of Population and Housing, 2011, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Nearly three quarters (73%) of Indian taxpayers arrived after 2005. Their numbers peaked in 2008 and 2009 with most holding a Skill or Provisional visa.


Who are the Indian-born taxpayers?

Almost half of Indian-born taxpayers were primary applicants and most were males. By contrast, there were more female secondary applicants than males.


Almost two-thirds of Indian taxpayers were males with a Skill visa. Almost 40% were males aged 25-34 years old. Indian males reported higher median Employee income than Indian females for all age groups.


How much personal income did Indian taxpayers generate in 2011-12?

In 2011-12 there were 147,642 (15%) Indian taxpayers, a 10% increase on 2010-11. The United Kingdom had the highest proportion of taxpayers at 16%.

Indian migrant taxpayers generated $7.9 billion in total income in 2011-12. Most (94%) of the income was Employee income ($7.4 billion).

Their median Employee income increased 7.8% in real terms from $42,780 in 2010-11 to $46,104 in 2011-12. This was the second only to Chinese median Employee income (increased 8.2%).

Indian taxpayers reported $387 million in Business income, or 14% of the total Business income reported by migrant taxpayers. Their median Business income increased 9.5% in real terms from $8,618 in 2010-11 to $9,440 in 2011-12.

Indian taxpayers also reported $73 million in Investment income (4.6% of total Investment Income reported by migrant taxpayers) and $15 million in Other income (3.5% of total Other income reported by migrant taxpayers).


Employee incomes and skill levels for Indian migrants improve over time

Potential permanent and temporary skilled migrants can nominate for a variety of occupations to gain entry under the Skilled Migration Programme to Australia. Table 6 shows the main occupations for Skilled Indian nationals in 2011-12 (DIBP, 2014).

	Number of migrants
Software and applications programmers	2 482
Cooks	1 399
Accountants	1 242
ICT business and systems analysts	898
Metal fitters and machinists	417
Welfare, recreation and community arts workers	272
Industrial, mechanical and production engineers	270
Electronics engineers	190
Motor mechanics	182
Registered nurses	179

Source: Country Profiles - India 2011-12, Department of Immigration and Border Protection

The proportion of Indian migrant taxpayers reporting “Professionals” as their main occupation has been growing each year, increasing from 27% in 2009-10 to 31% in 2011-12. This is higher than the Australian population at 17% (ATO, 2014).

Indian born Professionals reported the highest median Employee income of all Indian employees with $72,822. In particular, Medical Professionals ($140,925), Air and Marine Transport Professionals ($99,862) and Engineering Professionals ($81,189) had the highest median employee incomes.


Indian born Managers increased from 8.8% in 2009-10 to 10% in 2011-12. The median Employee income for Indian born Managers was $52,408, with ICT Managers the highest at $98,590 followed by Business Administration Managers at $88,679.

Indian migrant taxpayers reporting lower skilled occupations (e.g. Sales Workers and Labourers) continued to decline with each successive year. This indicates a transition into higher skilled occupations over time for existing migrants as well as a larger concentration of new migrants from India in the highly skilled occupations.

The median Employee incomes for Indian migrant taxpayers steadily increase over time. The median incomes for those in High skill occupations increased the most after six years of residency. There was little difference between the median incomes of those in the Medium skill and Low skill occupations.


In 2011-12, the median Employee incomes of highly skilled Indian migrants were considerably lower at $61,205 compared with the other main source countries, with the exception of migrant taxpayers who were born in China ($46,936).


How much income did Skilled Indian migrants generate in 2011-12?

Almost three-quarters (72%) of Indian migrant taxpayers in 2011-12 held a Skill stream visa. They represented 18% of the 593,500 migrant taxpayers with a Skill steam visa. Just over a quarter of Indian born taxpayers (28%) held a Family or Provisional visa. Less than 0.1% held a Humanitarian or Other permanent visa.

Skilled Indian taxpayers reported $6.4 billion of the total income reported by Indian taxpayers ($7.9 billion) in 2011-12.

	Source of income	Number of persons	Total income
		No	$m
Skill
	Employee income	101 267	6 032
	Business income	14 814	298
	Investment income	70 667	49
	Other income (a)	7 756	11
	Total income	106 531	6 390
Family
	Employee income	19 310	757
	Business income	2 306	39
	Investment income	12 228	19
	Other income (a)	1 104	3
	Total income	20 796	818
Provisional
	Employee income	19 007	629
	Business income	3 981	49
	Investment income	10 002	5
	Other income (a)	1 255	1
	Total income	20 139	684
Total (b)
	Employee income	139 752	7 424
	Business income	21 114	387
	Investment income	92 976	73
	Other income (a)	10 129	15
	Total income	147 642	7 899

(a) Includes Superannuation ad annuities income.
(b) Includes Visa stream "Humanitarian", "Other permanent" and "Unknown".
Source: Personal Income and Migrants Integrated Dataset (PITMID), 2011-12

Table 7 shows that the majority of Total income reported by Indian born taxpayers was Employee income from Skill stream migrants (76%). Skill stream Indian taxpayers reported a further $298 million in Business income, $49 million in Investment income and $11 million in Other income in 2011-12.

Indian taxpayers with a Skill visa had a median Employee income of $52,094 in 2011-12. This was much higher than the median Employee income of Family visa holders ($35,387) and Provisional visa holders ($33,455).

Graph 23 presents the median income of migrants born in India in real terms for 2009-10 to 2011-12 for Employee income by visa stream.


Skilled Indian migrants' income in the States and Territories

In 2011-12, more than two-thirds of Indian migrant taxpayers who were primary applicants were located in Victoria (36%) and New South Wales (30%). These two groups also reported 33% and 32% of the total Employee income reported by primary applicants.


Graph 25 shows that the median Employee incomes of Skilled Indian born primary applicants were very similar regardless of gender in Queensland and South Australia. The states with the largest difference between male and female skilled primary applicants were Tasmania and the Northern Territory, with the median Employee income for females being much higher.

In Tasmania, female primary applicant median income was $82,364, almost double the male median income ($48,992). In the Northern Territory female primary applicant median income was also much higher at $81,899 compared with males ($63,528).


Indian migrants with Business income

In 2011-12, 14% of all Indian migrant taxpayers reported income from their own unincorporated businesses, with over one third (35%) involved in the Transport, Postal and Warehousing industry.
Graph 26 shows that Indian migrant taxpayers who arrived from 2006 to 2011 reported higher rates of Business income compared with the other four top countries of birth.

The proportion of Indian migrants reporting Business income remained above 15% for those who arrived from 2005 to 2008, peaking at 17% for those who arrived in 2007.

Notes

• China excludes Special Administrative Regions (SARs) which comprise Hong Kong and Macau (SARs of China and Taiwan).
• High skilled occupations include Managers, Professionals and Technicians and trades workers.
• Medium skilled occupations include Community and personal service workers, Clerical and administrative workers and Sales workers.
• Low skilled occupations include Machinery operators and drivers and Labourers.
• Changes in income from 2009-10, 2010-11 to 2011-12 are in 2011-12 dollars, adjusted using changes in the Consumer Price Index.
• Other income (excluding Government pensions and allowances) includes transfer or trust income; foreign investment fund and/or foreign life insurance assurance policy income (in 2009-10 only); controlled foreign company income; foreign salary/pension income; other net foreign source income; and other (including superannuation and annuity income). Data for superannuation and annuities are understated. See Explanatory Notes for more information.

 
References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2011, Census of Population and Housing.

ABS, 2015, Personal Income of Migrants, Australia, Experimental, 2010-11 (cat no 3418.0)

ABS, 2013, Quickstats Country of Birth, India. Viewed at <http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/7103_0 > on 26/9/16

Australian Taxation Office (ATO), 2014, Taxation Statistics 2011-12, Canberra.

High Commission of India in Australia, 2015, Indians in Australia. Viewed at <http://hcindia-au.org/indians-in-australia.htm > on 26/9/16

Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), 2014, Country Profiles, India
Viewed at <https://www.border.gov.au/about/reports-publications/research-statistics/statistics/live-in-australia/country-profiles/india> on 26/9/16

Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), 2013, Australia’s Migration Trends 2011–12 Canberra.
Viewed at <https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/australian-migration-trends-2011-12.pdf> on 9/8/16