Jobs Australia Needs More Skilled Immigration For.

Professor Peter McDonald, the director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at Australian National University (ANU) said that immigration is a factor of labor demand and has a connection to economic growth.

“The discussion in Australia is that we can fix population growth and forget about its relationship with the economy,” he said to a seminar hosted by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).

“If the government is going to say we are going to cut immigration, I think it is incumbent upon the government to point to the projects and economic aspects they are not going to do.”

It is predicted that Western Australia will need 130,000 workers in the construction industry, 69,000 in the mining industry, 45,000 in health and social care and 40,000 in the retail sector by 2020. Prof McDonald said Australia’s intake of 44,000 permanent migrants in the 2008-2009 year was insufficient to meet labour demand because it provided only 30,000 new skilled workers, which was “well below current demand”.

The five main visa types relied upon to help meet Australia’s labor shortages were overseas students, New Zealanders, those with a 457 visa, working holidaymakers and tourists, Prof McDonald said.

“The increase in temporary visa holders is a vital component of meeting the needs of the labor force immediately,” he said.

Sustainable Population Minister Tony Burke said that the government will adjust immigration policies so that populated regions are not stretched.

But the policies would ensure skills shortages were filled.

Mr Burke, whose title was changed from Population Minister to Sustainable Population Minister said this meant targeting migrants with the right skills.

“If your skills shortage says you need more nurses and you’re bringing in hairdressers, that’s not the right sort of immigration,” he said.