Ideas@TheCentre
Poaching American and European talent
In a rare moment of clarity, the government has implemented measures designed to help ease Australia’s much-talked-about skills shortage. US tradies – plumbers, electricians, and construction workers, among others – will be given access to provisional work licences as soon as they arrive in Australia so they can begin working immediately.
While this move is a step in the right direction, Australia can do more to capitalise on the difficult economic conditions in the United States and Europe.
Under existing arrangements, American workers must be on Australian shores before their application can be processed, and it can be several months from the time they arrive until their licence is granted and they can work. But the changes announced this week allow workers to be assessed against Australian regulatory requirements offshore, allowing them to begin work as soon as they arrive.
The reasons for these changes are economic, and short-term. Federal Skills Minister Chris Evans noted that the increasing demand for skilled workers, particularly civil engineers and construction workers, was set to peak over the coming years, and this solution would fill that temporary void.
But there is a bigger picture that the government is missing. Australia has a small window of opportunity to attract much of the unutilised intellectual capital wasting away on the European continent and the United States.
Unemployment in America is 8.3% and as high as 50% (amongst young people) in some European countries. Many workers equipped with PhDs and MBAs are stuck working for low salaries in the hospitality industry because of the lack of employment opportunities. These are just the sort of people who, given the opportunity to emigrate, could make a real contribution to Australian society.
Alexander Philipatos is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
