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at 12:40 pm on July 20, 2021 | 12 comments
Labor has called on the federal government to lift the pay floor on temporary ‘skilled’ visa holders, claiming that it is mugging Australians of job opportunities and contributing to the nation’s low wage growth:
Aussies are missing out on pay rises because employers are able to fill gaps with cheap overseas workers, according to the federal opposition who are crying out for government action.
Australian workers are being denied long-awaited pay rises because the minimum wage paid to temporary skilled migrants has been frozen for eight years, it is claimed.
Grattan: Lift skilled visa pay floor to $80,000 macrobusiness.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from macrobusiness.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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at 12:15 am on May 27, 2021 | 8 comments
The skilled stream is the largest component of Australia’s permanent migration program accounting for 61% (110,000) of Australia’s 179,000 permanent migrants (including the humanitarian intake) before COVID hit in 2019:
Australia’s permanent migrant intake is dominated by ‘skilled’ visas.
Empirical survey data from the Department of Home Affairs’
Continuous Survey of Australia’s Migrants shows that Australia’s permanent migration program is failing to attract highly paid and highly skilled migrants to Australia.
As show in the next summary table, recent permanent migrants experienced higher rates of unemployment and are paid less than the general population:
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at 10:20 am on May 4, 2021 | 15 comments
Below is a submission to the inquiry into Australia’s skilled migration program, written by Sustainable Population Australia with my assistance. The submission is a direct rebuke of the Morrison Government’s planned rebooting of Australia’s pre-COVID mass immigration program via giving Australian businesses easier access to migrant workers to overcome purported skills shortages.
Introduction
Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) welcomes this opportunity to make a submission to the Joint Standing Committee’s inquiry into Australia’s skilled migration program.
The comments in this submission have relevance to all the terms of reference (ToR), and have particular relevance to ToR 3 and 4.
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There is no shame, nor memory, in the Australian press:
Neil Perry can’t find workers for his new restaurant.
Former union man and KPMG legend, Paul Howes, says all contention that immigration suppresses wages is “rubbish”.
Other sectors are whining about needing more workers plus scaremongering about inflation.
Many of them are operating in low and unskilled sectors.
This piece headlined AFR on the weekend. It had no data to support its claims. It cherry-picked whinging bosses and union sell-outs that have a vested interest in promoting cheap foreign workers. And, it completely airbrushed the history of immigration-related wage theft for many of those quoted, including Neil Perry’s Rockpool Group.