Contribution of migrants — Post War to 1973
Statistical analysis of the impact of migrants on the Australian economy
Between 1947 and 1973 Australia’s workforce increased by 2.6 million to 5.8 million. Migrants contributed half this increase. Immigration was an economic success: providing 50% of labour force growth from 1947 to 1973 and giving Australia with the highest rate of increase of any OECD country (Castles 1988 page 24).
Most European migrants between the 1950s and 1970s were employed in industry. The growth of industries such as steel, motor vehicles, building and construction and public utilities has depended largely on the skills and energy of migrant workers. Factory production grew level with the output from primary industry in 1953–54, and continued to forge ahead.
The new wealth of secondary industries helped increase the national income from an estimated $2,768 million in 1946–47 to $37,047 million in 1972–73. Factories increased from more than 31,200 employing 745,000 people to about 62,600 employing more than 1,381,000.
Immigrants supplied more than 70% of the extra workers needed in the steel industry in the early post-war years. A large proportion of migrants worked in the motor vehicle industry and an estimated one third of building trade employees were migrants. From the first intake of male Displaced Persons at Bonegilla [see below], 180 were directed to the construction industry, 74 to mining or quarrying, 190 to the timber industry, 22 to salt harvesting, 15 to flax production and 200 to fruit picking (Freeman Leeson 1996 page 19). Migrants played a major part in the development of the $800 million Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Scheme. At the peak of construction 60% of the work force were migrants.
The 1971 census recorded a workforce of 5 240,414, of which 1 403,778 or 26.8% were born overseas. Of these migrants, nearly 37% were employed as tradesmen, production and process workers and labourers, over 19% were clerical workers, nearly 24% professional or technically relate workers, and 30% working in services, sport or recreation (Department of Labour and Immigration 1975, page 31). Many thousands of women were employed in clothing, footwear and textiles. ‘They were a dynamic influence on Australia's growth … Their presence could not be ignored in the major cities, the unions, or the education and welfare systems (Jupp 1991 page 80).
Source for text above: Australian Government Department of the Environment – Heritage Database
Above: Bonegilla Migrant Hostel in country Victoria, now The Bonegilla Migrant Experience Heritage Centre. Photo: Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons
Hotwords: Displaced Persons, OECD country
Inquiry questions
Consider:
- What was the migrant contribution to the Australian workforce between 1947 and 1973?
- In what part of the workforce were most migrants employed in this period?
- What percentage of the workforce were from a migrant background in 1971?
- What is the change in the types of work of Australians of a migrant background by 1971?
- What key source has the Australian government used to collect the statistical data for analysis?
Back to Sequence 1 The Globalising World: Changing policies and Australian identity — History Year 10
