The truth about Australia’s so‑called skills shortage

A new report from Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) argues that the nation’s skilled occupation list is fundamentally broken—packed with hundreds of roles that are not genuine shortages—resulting in migrants being brought in for jobs that either don’t exist, don’t require qualifications, or are already oversupplied with Australian workers.

SPA claims that Australia’s skills shortage will “never end” because the skilled occupation list is outdated, inflated, and filled with the wrong jobs. As a result:

• Migrants are granted skilled visas for roles that aren’t actually in shortage.
• Genuine shortages (e.g., doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, construction workers) are diluted by hundreds of irrelevant occupations.
• Many migrants arrive expecting skilled work but end up in low‑paid, unrelated jobs.