Speaking to VOC News, Aimee-Noel Mbiyozo, a senior research consultant on migration at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), argued that evidence consistently shows immigration has a positive impact on South Africa’s economy. Citing studies by the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the researcher said each immigrant creates an average of two jobs, contributes to economic growth, and helps raise per capita income.
“So, the data that we use for that report were referring to a couple of sorts of heavy econometric models, including one from the World Bank that found that for every immigrant in the country, they create an average of two jobs. And the other one that we cite heavily and that you’ve already used the data from is from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and it was also done in 2018, and it compares the sort of metadata and econometric data from 10 middle-income countries to have a look at what immigrants contribute to the labour markets and to the fiscus and to the GDP. And that was the one that found that immigrants contribute 9 percent of the GDP and that they raised the per capita income by 5 percent within South Africa,” says Mbiyozo.
The report also examines common perceptions about immigration, arguing that available evidence does not support claims that migrants are the primary cause of unemployment, crime or pressure on public services. Instead, it calls for migration policy and public debate to be guided by reliable data and evidence.
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