International Migration

Volume 35 Issue 3 Page 421 - September 1997

doi:10.1111/1468-2435.00020

Greek Immigrants in Australia: Demographic Developments and Economic Integration

Nicholas P. Glytsos

Abstract - Summary

With a high proportion of Greece-born immigrants in Australia reaching retirement, working age numbers will be reduced dramatically by the year 2000 and will almost vanish by the year 2010. Without newcomers to Australia, which is likely to be the case in the foreseeable future, the involvement of Greece-born immigrants in the Australian economy will soon be minimal. For quite some time, departures from Australia have exceeded arrivals; the movement in recent years has been practically nil.

While immigration from Greece to Australia has completed something of a century-long cycle (1900-2000), second generation Greeks in Australia will come to demographic maturity with a more or less normal age distribution. In contrast to their parents, they are well educated with skills, and many hold well paid jobs, thus measuring up to the total Australian population.

The relatively low general and third level education of Greece-born immigrants, and their lack of adequate vocational qualifications and skills, placed them in a disadvantageous position in the Australian labour market and created some obstacles to their integration in the Australia economy and society. However, subsequent cohorts of immigrants had more and better education and skill qualifications, but still well below those of the total Australian population. Despite these inadequacies, Greece-born immigrants participate almost equally well in economic activity as the total Australian population.

The relatively superior educational attainment of second generation Greeks is a reflection of the changing aspirations of their parents for the upward economic and social mobility of their children.

The income gap between Greece-born immigrants and total Australian population is not so great (14 per cent) and has been stable over time. For both populations, the relative position of females has improved considerably and by about equal proportions. The overall conclusion concerning first generation Greeks is that their standard of living is only a little inferior to that of the total Australian population.

Mainly because immigration to Australia is generally permanent family immigration, the volume of remittances to Greece was relatively low during the 1960s; accelerated volumes in the 1970s and the 1980s are explained partly by corresponding changes in migration movements.


Affiliations:

Centre for Planning and Economic Research, Athens, Greece

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Other articles by Nicholas P. Glytsos:

Remitting Behaviour of "Temporary" and "Permanent" Migrants: The Case of Greeks in Germany and Australia

Labour
Volume 11, Issue 3, Page 409-435, Nov 1997

The Role of Migrant Remittances in Development: Evidence from Mediterranean Countries

International Migration
Volume 40, Issue 1, Page 5-26, Mar 2002