Sydney restauranteurs have urged the federal government to increase immigration to alleviate the alleged labour shortages in the industry.
“A report released by Business NSW on Wednesday found eight in 10 businesses have had to boost pay or offer better conditions over the past year to stay competitive in the battle for skilled workers”, The SMH reported.
“I just can’t find Australians to do the work”, Judy McMahon, owner of harbourside restaurant Catalina in Rose Bay, said. “The idea that we have too many foreign students, and they will pare it back, just doesn’t add up. We’re crying out for skills”.
McMahon said international students filled nearly all of her kitchen hand positions and that she relied on foreign hospitality students to work towards qualifications in her pastry section.
The lobby group’s chief executive, Daniel Hunter, demanded the federal government accelerate the number of skilled visas being issued and increase international student numbers to ease a “critical skills shortage”.
“Australia is a nation that needs a good number of international students and skilled migrants to grow and prosper”, he said.
“It’s too easy to hide behind housing supply issue rather than solve it. The federal government needs to accelerate the number of skills visas. We must ensure filling skills shortages is data-driven, not politics driven”.
The hospitality industry is not an essential service. Additionally, there is a massive oversupply of low-productivity cafes and restaurants in Australia.
Hospitality provides the lowest rates of pay in Australia by a wide margin and is ground zero for wage theft, especially from migrant workers.
The nation would be better off if many of these establishments closed and workers moved to more productive areas of the economy.
Besides, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that the Accommodation and food sector sector shed nearly 200,000 jobs in 2023–24. Therefore, there should be many workers available.
Source: ABS
The hospitality industry can only blame itself for labour shortages.
Many individuals would work in the industry if it offered suitable remuneration/superannuation, consistent, part-time or full-time employment, and career paths/apprenticeships for those who chose them.
However, labour shortages will continue as long as the hospitality industry pays low wages and has bad working conditions.
Any industry that relies on cheap, exploited migrant labour is unsustainable and needs major structural reform.
Giving the hospitality industry greater access to cheap foreign labour will intensify the current systemic exploitation, keeping wages low and depriving local workers of stable employment opportunities and decent incomes.
Politicians must stop catering to vested interests. Otherwise, real wage growth in Australia will continue to flatline, and exploitation will continue to occur.
I would rather abolish the skilled occupations list entirely and simply raise the wage floor for all migrant workers to a level beyond the median full-time wage (now approximately $95,000).
This would limit work visas to higher-skilled occupations, alleviate population pressures, boost productivity, and enhance average income tax receipts.
If Australia wants a skilled migration system, it must ensure that the migrant salary floor reflects the skill level.
Otherwise, Australia’s immigration system will stay predominantly unskilled.
