New Zealand's population gain from migration continued to decline in June, with seasonally adjusted net of only 70 people for the month, the lowest level since November 2008.

Net permanent and long term migration gains, on a seasonally adjusted basis, had steadily declined from 1800 in January, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said publishing the data today.

ASB economist Jane Turner said net migration had slowed "very rapidly", proving much weaker than expected over the June quarter.

The fall in net migration had been a result of a sharp rise in departures, particularly to Australia, as well as a sudden slow down in arrivals.

Arrivals fell 2.5 percent in June, the third consecutive monthly decline, with arrivals now 9.4 percent lower than year-ago levels, she said.

The fall in arrivals appeared to be concentrated to those requiring work permits, reflecting a weaker labour market in this country.

Meanwhile, permanent departures had been lifting strongly since the end of 2009, particularly to Australia, where the economy had fared relatively well through the recession, with labour demand recovering early, Ms Turner said.

More recently, departures to Britain also appeared to be recovering, perhaps reflecting pent-up demand as young New Zealanders had deferred the traditional OE experience during the heights of the global recession.

On an unadjusted basis, PLT departures outnumbered arrivals by 700 last month, a reversal of June 2009 when there were 700 more arrivals than departures, SNZ said.

The net outflow of 1800 migrants to Australia last month was up from 1200 a year earlier, but still well down from the net outflow of 2900 in June 2008.

There was also a net outflow of 200 migrants to Britain in June 2010, compared to a net inflow of 300 a year earlier.

For the year to June there was a net migration gain of 16,500, up from 12,500 in the June 2009 year.

The net PLT outflow of 15,900 in the year to June 2010 was down from 28,700 in the June 2009 year

(Source Otago Daily Times)