There are too many entry-level IT workers migrating to Australia. This is the finding of
a report by labour market consultant Bob Kinnaird. The key points in his report are:
- during the last four years 30% of Australian IT graduates could not find work. This is despite enrolments by Australian students in IT courses falling 36%.
- in spite of this oversupply, the government increased the number of visas to overseas students graduating from Australian universities by 62%.
- as a result there has been high graduate unemployment and lower wages
Mr Kinnaird found that the situation was not only harming local students, but also those IT workers migrating to Australia. He wrote:
People lured to Australia on the promise of lucrative jobs in IT get here and find they don't have a hope of getting a job. It's a human disaster for these people who, in many cases, uprooted themselves and their families, leaving behind reasonably paid jobs, and find they are worse off when they get here.
You raise a valid point. Indeed from the point of view of students also this policy has been that of a loss - Highly Skilled and Qualified but stuck in low end causal jobs, lured by the promise of a better life in Australia. Having taken loans in their home countries, they too get stuck in these jobs as even with a high end job in their countries, the loan is difficult to pay.
ReplyDeleteSecondly you mention one of the points in the report - "in spite of this oversupply, the government increased the number of visas to overseas students graduating from Australian universities by 62%."
A very selective statement I would say - overseas student include more students in professions like Nursing, accountancy, engineering of which there is a real and acute shortage, IT is just one of the sectors where DIMIA's policy is off-track.