Campaigners are urging Australia to allow in more migrants and refugees to help address chronic labor shortages. The recently elected Labor government is hosting a two-day jobs and skills summit starting Thursday.
Australian industries, from hospitality to retail, say there are not enough workers to fill job openings.
In Canberra, the government convened a two-day meeting of business, union and community representatives.
Campaigners have argued that Australia should increase its annual refugee acceptance from its current level of around 14,000 to help ease a chronic labor shortage.
The Refugee Council of Australia, an advocacy organization, has said refugees “show greater propensity to form their own business than other migrants” and have high levels of “entrepreneurialism.”
However, the council has noted such barriers to employment as lacking English language skills and Australian employers’ hesitancy to recognize qualifications and credentials earned overseas by refugees.
The government has previously indicated that, in time, it would double Australia’s acceptance of refugees.
Those at the summit expressed agreement that migration numbers must be increased to help meet a chronic lack of workers in Australia. The exact number is yet to be determined, but reports have suggested the annual migrant level could be increased from 160,000 to 200,000 places a year.
Immigration minister Andrew Giles told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that tough restrictions of migrants imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic will deter some migrants.
“We are in a global contest for talent and highly skilled migrants will be looking around, and one of the things they will be looking at is what happened during the pandemic, and they will have seen the former government tell people to go home and, for those who did not return to their original home, denied them the sort of income support and other supports that other countries did. We have got to recognize that and we have got to communicate that we will not be doing something similar in the future.”
Reports Thursday said that delays in processing visas have left about a million prospective workers unable to travel to Australia. Ironically, this occurred because of a shortage of immigration and other administrative staff.
Australia’s official unemployment rate is 3.4%, just below that of the United States and the United Kingdom.
New Zealand is making temporary changes to its immigration rules to fill gaps in its labor market.
