In the face of fewer employment opportunities over recent years, particularly in resource-related industries, there has been a decline in the (net) number of immigrants arriving to seek work. While we’d expect the labour supply to respond to economic conditions in Australia relative to those overseas, the adjustment has been more pronounced than earlier anticipated.
•  Second, wage growth declined as spare capacity in the labour market increased. This is also unsurprising, but the adjustment has been larger than suggested by historical experience. This has probably encouraged more employment growth than otherwise and improved the cost competitiveness of Australian labour. It also acts as a signal to encourage adjustment in the supply of labour.