Judith Sloan – the Commissioner in charge of the Productivity Commission’s 2006 review into the Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth – has entered the immigration debate yet again calling for a shake-up of the 457 visa system. From The Australian:
Don’t get me wrong: there is an important economic role for a temporary skilled worker entry scheme — for temporary jobs. It made a lot of sense to bring in workers during the mining construction boom to fill non-ongoing specialised roles…
[But] when we look at the nominated occupations filled by 457 visa holders, we find cook and cafe/restaurant manager among the top groups. Others include developer programmer, marketing specialist, information and communications technology business analyst and software engineer.
There are more than 650 occupations deemed to be in short supply on the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List, including occupations where there is no shortage of local applicants, such as lawyers, nurses, accountants, doctors, dentists and trades. Quite a lot of the occupations on the list are not really skilled. If an employer really wants to bring in a 457 visa holder, it’s just not that hard.
Now, in many instances, the issuing of a 457 visa does not displace a local worker in an immediate sense. But these visas do undermine the incentive of employers to provide training; and undermine the incentive of locals to undertake training if they think the jobs will be offered to foreign workers.
…this is a debate we need to have. The combined annual numbers of permanent immigrants, 457 visa holders and international students and working holiday-makers with working rights is testing the limits of the labour market to absorb new entrants, certainly in terms of providing full-time work.
Too right. The 457 system is intended be used by employers in areas of acute skills shortages – i.e. to fill genuine labour market gaps on a temporary basis. However, the Department of Employment’s latest skills shortages report found that Australia’s skills shortage “remains low by historical standards”.
Moreover, around 80% of 457 workers – i.e. those working under the skill level 1 (so-called “Managers and Professionals”) and skill level 2 (so-called “Associate Professionals”) – are not subject to any labour market testing to determine whether an Australian can do the job first.
Many are also working in professions that are not consider to be particularly “skilled”, in short supply, or critical to the economy, such as cooks/chefs, cafe/restaurant staff, and customer service (see next table).
Full-time jobs are disappearing and underemployment is on the rise. In such circumstances, it makes little sense to allow the large-scale importation of foreign workers.
