Humanitarian migrants make twice as much money from their own businesses as people arriving on skilled and family visas, says statistics bureau

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Refugees are not taking Australian jobs, they are creating new ones, according to new government research that reveals humanitarian arrivals are the country’s most entrepreneurial migrants.

Humanitarian migrants tended to work several jobs in their first few years in Australia.

People from the UK and India – most of whom arrived on skilled or family visas – contributed the largest share of the $38bn earned by migrants in Australia in 2009-10, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released on Friday, reveals.

But it was migrants who arrived as refugees who reported the highest proportion of their incomes that year “from their own unincorporated businesses”.

This income grew with the length of time they spent in Australia, and “increased sharply” after five years of residency.

The report built on earlier research showing humanitarian migrants tended to work several jobs in their first few years in Australia to build capital to start their own businesses, the ABS said.

One such entrepreneur is Bassam Jabbar, who recently arrived from Iraq, and with the help of Settlement Services International (SSI), has established a glass-etching artwork business.

He told Guardian Australia the biggest hurdle to starting a business was “knowing the country, knowing how people think, the regulations”.

“Refugees have left their country, their society, their language behind and so of course they find it easier to work in their own business – especially artists,” he said.

Nearly 10% of humanitarian migrants’ incomes in 2009-10 were generated by their own businesses, almost twice the figure recorded in other categories, such as skilled and family migrants.



This income was overwhelmingly made by men, most aged between 25 and 44. Afghans earned the largest share of the profits generated by humanitarian migrant businesses.

Violet Roumeliotis, the chief executive of SSI, said she “wasn’t surprised at all” by the data.

“Being from countries where they need to be enterprising to survive, because there’s no welfare state, refugees are keen to pick an area of passion or where they have a skill and start a business,” she said.