Earlier this year, the chair of the Migration Council of Australia (MCA) and big business lobbyist for the Australian Industry Group (AIG), Innes Willox, penned an article in The Australian claiming that “now is not the time to cut migration” because of “skills shortages” [my emphasis]:
Australia does not have a population problem but we do have a skills problem and we do need to get much better at planning our cities, regions and our infrastructure…
Ai Group’s feedback from a wide range of businesses in a variety of sectors including manufacturing, construction and defence suggests that skill shortages are re-emerging as a leading concern for businesses… Ai Group members are increasingly telling us that they are having difficulty sourcing skilled labour, particularly in regard to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills and other trade-related and technician jobs…
Over the weekend it was revealed that STEM graduates actually have some of the highest rates of underemployment:
Many STEM-qualified applicants are finding a degree in the strongly promoted subjects is not an automatic passport to a job in the field, said Vicki Thompson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, comprising leading research universities…
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said science and maths graduates had a strike rate up to 10 per cent below the average in finding work four months after leaving uni.
About 20 per cent of Australia’s almost two million domestic students who graduated in the nine years to 2016 were in STEM disciplines…
“Employers in business and industry were clearly not knocking down their door,” Ms Thomson told the Graduate Employment Outcomes and Industry Partnerships Forum.
NSW Business Chamber CEO Stephen Cartwright said even highly qualified graduates who topped their class found it hard to get a job…
ACCI director of employment, education and training Jenny Lambert said employment outcomes showed some uni graduates struggled more than others, including some who have done STEM courses.
Quite a contrast, isn’t it?
The sad reality is that Australia’s open immigration system has discouraged employers from training young Australians in favour of hiring ready-made workers from overseas.
Moreover, if skills shortages were pervasive across the economy, Australia would be experiencing strong wages growth. The fact that wages growth is running near historical lows highlights the lunacy of Willox’s argument, as does the high level of labour underutilisation.
