Migrants aren’t nearly as skilled as claimed

Tuesday 3 November 2026

The Australian’s Simon Benson has clearly been tapped on the shoulder by the business lobby and told to shill for mass immigration:

Benson has parroted spurious research from the Australian Industry Group (AiG) claiming that cutting immigration would deprive the nation of highly skilled workers, harming productivity growth and the economy.

The whole premise of the AiG’s research is that migrants are more likely than locals to hold a university degree; therefore, they must also be more skilled:

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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.