The Two Way Benefits of Australia’s Rising Immigration Quota
14/05/2008 by Tamar Blieden
Australia has serious labour shortages which causes labour costs to rise and adds to rising inflation. The need to curb this has resulted in the Australian government increasing the amount of skilled migrants entering the country each year.
As many as 31 000 skilled foreigners will be given the opportunity to become permanent residents in Australia in the upcoming financial year 2008/2009. This comes with the first Rudd government budget announcement that took place this week.
The increase of workers is believed to add in the region of £970 million in revenue and ultimately curb the rise in inflation. Inflation has been estimated to be rising at its quickest pace in 17 years.
The current problems within the labour marker have been influenced by a resources increase, as well as higher wages proposed within the mining sector. However they are not just mining related but across the board of jobs. And it is Australian immigration that, "will continue to be an important contributor to labour supply," says the government.
This year's budget highlights the issues of immigration, focusing on the dire need for immigration in order to deal with labour needs, particularly in financial and trade sectors.
"This 30% increase in skilled workers from abroad gives more people the opportunity to benefit from what Australia has to offer," says Erin Ryan, an Australian immigration expert at www.globalvisas.com. "In turn this boost will have massive profits for the Australian community as well," she adds.
As a discussion paper by chief economist, Tim Harcourt, entitled "Why Australia Needs Exports: The Economic Case for Exporting" says, "Important cultural aspects to international business, being a nation of immigrants is a potential advantage to Australia."
Previously the numbers of skilled immigrants was highly restricted, with little to no flexibility occurring for a long time. It did not grow in relation to the labour demand; the recent increase in intake therefore comes as a welcomed change and these new migrants will be well looked after by the Australian government. An extra £19.8 million has been guaranteed to go to helping immigrants find employment, train them in English and develop skills.
Immigration has become such a hot topic it was also a core issue at this week's Australian Davos Connection Futures Summit in Sydney. Beside the increase of permanent immigrants, the need for temporary workers was raised here under the category of medium-term migration. This would focus on people, mostly from the Asia-Pacific region bring in needed skills or learning new skills in a three year stint in Australia. As many as 100 000 temporary workers are expected in Australia in the coming year.
The new Rudd government is clearly committed to investing in human capital, opening the doors to skilled foreigners with both immigrants and Australia itself reaping the benefits.
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