Immigration is making labour shortages worse

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One of the primary arguments for running a ‘Big Australia’ mass immigration program is that it will address skill shortages throughout the economy.

For decades, numerous industry lobbies that helped shape policy have driven this argument to death.

For example, a 2002 Senate Inquiry run by the Howard Government complained of ‘serious skill shortages and skill gaps’ in Australia and warned that unless we did something about it, Australia’s economy would go backward.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.