The changes include softening the English language test so it allows an average mark rather than the current minimum in each test area of reading, writing, comprehending and speaking English.
“The English language requirements are unnecessarily restrictive, serving more as an industrial lockout rather than an honest attempt to ensure appropriate language skills,” he will say.
The government plans to lower from $250,000 to $180,000 an income threshold that requires workers are paid the same rate as Australians in the same job. Employers won’t have to provide evidence that pay rates above this level are in line with market rates.
…most of the visa holders are actually employed in areas like hospitality, health care, telecommunications and professional services.
Obviously there is not a whole lot to go on here, and we must wait for the actual announcement before drawing too many conclusions.
However, I want to reiterate the general point that loosening 457 visa requirements at this point in time does not make a whole lot of sense.
Overall, unemployment is already at 12-year highs, with youth unemployment tracking at nearly 14% (see next chart).
Labour force participation is also falling – suggesting hidden unemployment – and underemployment is at its highest level since the late-1990s.
Moreover, the latest skills shortages report from the Department of Employment, released in late-July, revealed that the number of occupations suffering skills shortages is at an “historic low” with employers able “to recruit skilled workers without marked difficulty” and “generally large fields of applicants vying for skilled jobs and employers filling a high proportion of their vacancies”.
And with the mining investment boom set to unwind over the next few years, along with the closure of the local car industry from 2017 (if not earlier), labour surpluses are only likely to increase from today’s already high levels.
Given such an environment, why on earth should the visa system make it even easier to import labour from offshore rather than training local workers, potentially adding to the pool of under/unemployed and depriving our youth of employment opportunities? Where’s the sense in that?
