Australia is in the grip of a labour shortage, as pandemic border closures stem the flow of workers from other countries. At the same time, Australia has an untapped talent pool of workers: refugees who have settled here and are urgently looking for work.
Survey data from the Australian Institute of Family Studies suggests only 6% of refugees find work within six months of arrival. Within two years of arrival, only 25% of refugees are in employment.
Many refugees are victims of a qualifications paradox the higher their credentials, the more they struggle to find meaningful employment. This is because of the restrictive professional accreditation processes many highly-qualified migrants struggle to overcome, higher language proficiency requirements and limited local professional networks.