Much of the oxygen in the run-up to the Jobs and Skills Summit was taken by a debate on how much Australia’s migration cap should be lifted to fill job vacancies in the short term.
Much of the oxygen in the run-up to the Jobs and Skills Summit was taken by a debate on how much Australia’s migration cap should be lifted to fill job vacancies in the short term.
In advance of the summit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese went public with his support for moves to increase Australia’s intake of skilled migrants from 160,000 a year to 200,000.
But Mr Albanese also foreshadowed the government’s interest in expanding the pathways to permanent migration rather than just a temporary workforce boost.
Migration has long been an important part of Western Australia’s economic growth story, more so from overseas than interstate.
WA experienced a net migration inflow of more than 56,000 people during the height of its population growth in 2012, including a net increase of 48,000 from outside Australia.
The flow of overseas migrants to WA slowed to less than 11,800 in 2017 but started to rise again before the onset of COVID-19 in 2020.
Business has picked up over the last year, but the high demand for overseas workers has stress-tested Australia’s current skilled visa arrangements and found them wanting.
There are reports of extended delays and uncertainties in processing times for skilled visas, which risks the loss of potential entrants to other countries with quicker visa processing systems.
The skilled occupations under which permanent migrants can apply for entry into Australia is due for an overhaul.
And we shouldn’t forget the need to review how Australia recognises qualifications gained overseas, to ensure that fewer highly qualified migrant workers are having to work in jobs for which they are over-qualified.
The situation requires urgent action, not least from government in putting enough resources into visa processing, and to streamline the system to make it easier for skilled workers to enter Australia quickly, efficiently and without disproportionate cost or uncertainty.
Workers have always been attracted to move to WA from interstate to take up job vacancies when our economy is doing well, or at least doing better than other states.
In fact, there was a net inflow of 9,600 workers into WA from other states in the last calendar year; that’s more than at any time during the resources boom.
But the high demand for skills in WA over the past year has created its own challenges, as well as calls for solutions, particularly related to housing.
The issue is not so much the affordability of housing in WA compared to other jurisdictions, but far more one of supply, with a lack of housing stock and low rental vacancy rates both in Perth metro and regional areas of the state making it far harder for people to relocate from east to west.
And we can’t afford to ignore the many other labour market barriers that prevent more people from accessing employment, or the job for which they are most suited.
Among these, access to flexible and affordable childcare plays a central role in reducing barriers to labour market participation for parents of young children.
The issue needs to remain high on the agenda for both state and federal governments.
One of the main aims for the Jobs and Skills Summit is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive and long-term strategy to tackle skills shortages.
WA’s industry sectors can’t afford to wait 12 months for a new jobs and skills blueprint, and interstate and overseas migration needs to be part of the story.
But attracting more people to move to Australia, or to WA, to fill job vacancies shouldn’t be our only response to the state’s skills shortages.
• Professor Alan Duncan is director of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre
