Back in July controversy arose after it was revealed that the Abbott Government had chosen to keep accountants on a list of in-demand occupations for skilled migrants, going against the both the Department of Employment’s and the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency’s (AWPA) recommendations to remove accounting from this list due to significant labour surpluses and “deteriorating outcomes for graduates . . . relatively low pay rates for bachelor graduates and weak employment outcomes for masters graduates”.
It was understood that universities, which derive income from international accounting students, and two of the major accounting bodies, which charge foreign accountants fees for membership and evaluating qualifications for migration, supported keeping the occupation on the list.
The reasons are obvious: international accounting students are a cash cow for universities, making up a record 79% of the 17,600 enrolled postgraduate students in 2013, and some 55% of the 25,400 enrolled undergraduate students, according to The AFR.
Yesterday, Deakin University released a new report entitled Australian International Graduates and the Transition to Employment (summarised in The AFR), revealing that international graduates were finding it extremely difficult to find professional work in Australia, despite having qualifications in areas of supposed skills shortages, such as accounting, nursing and engineering, which are all on the Skilled Occupation List. Under the visa rules, such international students can obtain a 485 Temporary Graduate Visa and work in Australia for up to 18 months.
The report supported analysis by The AFR in September, which claimed that unemployment has risen significantly for post-graduates – to 15.5% for those with postgraduate diplomas and certificates and 17.9% for those who had completed a masters degree by coursework – with accountants amongst the worst affected.
Today, The AFR has revealed that the major accounting bodies have finally publicly conceded that international accounting graduates are having difficulty in finding professional work in Australia, contradicting their testimony to the federal government last year that there was a shortage of accountants, requiring them to remain on the Skilled Occupation List, prompting calls for changes to the visa rules:
Federal Labor member Kelvin Thomson said the “Coalition government should remove accounting from the Skilled Occupation List”.
“The government should also review the overseas student sector in conjunction with migrant worker programs, to cut the links that have developed between permanent residency, revenue-raising dependency by education providers, and reduced employment opportunities for young Australian graduates”…
The federal government said it would review the list early next year.
While I am a big supporter of increasing education exports – and see them as one of the few areas where Australia is internationally competitive – it should not be used as a back-door pathway to immigration.
The skilled migration program should be determined solely by a rigorous analysis of need, and should balance the benefits to business and the economy against the costs to unemployed and underemployed Australians.
Yet, to date, we have seen little evidence that the Abbott Government is taking such an approach. As noted above, it chose to ignore the advice of the independent AWPA and the Department of Employment – which both believe that Australia has a surplus of accountants – and has effectively flooded the market, placing the interests of universities and the major accounting bodies ahead of locals trying to get a job. It has also chosen to disband the AWPA – the body set-up the the former Gillard Government to evaluate what skills Australia has, what we should import and how to develop the necessary skills locally – thus removing one of the few checks-and-balances on Australia’s immigration system.
When added to the recently announced loosening of 457 visa requirements, the Abbott Government seems intent on making it systematically easier to import labour from offshore, while at the same time cynically tightening eligibility requirements for under-30s receiving unemployment benefits and raising university fees.
The Coalition’s approach will deprive Australia’s youth of employment opportunities, and is hardly a recipe for social cohesion.
