Joblessness higher among migrants

Unemployment among skilled migrants and their families is 30 per cent higher than for the population as a whole, new research shows, but those who do have a job are more likely to be in a professional role.

A new Bureau of Statistics report provides the clearest picture yet of the economic outcomes for Australia's skilled migrant program by linking census data with the government's migrant settlement database.

Although the program is geared towards overcoming serious skills shortages, a significant number of skilled migrants are unable to find work.
At the last census, 7.3 per cent of skilled migrants were unemployed compared with 5.2 per cent of the population as a whole.

''[This] highlights the fact that the skilled migration program is not working,'' a Sydney University migration expert, Dimitria Groutsis, said.

''We are not fully utilising the skills and vocational experience offered by people living overseas.

''There needs to be better … information for individuals when applying in their home country for emigration to Australia about what the expectations are.''

The ABS report suggests another major contributing factor to the higher unemployment rate among migrants was the difficulty faced by the spouses and children of skilled migrant workers in finding work once they joined their partners in Australia. This group - known as ''secondary applicants'' - is made up largely of women, children and other dependent relatives.

Just 32 per cent of secondary applicants of working age were employed full-time compared with 68 per cent of so-called ''primary applicants''.

''The secondary applicant is invariably the female partner,'' Dr Groutsis said. ''They fall through the cracks.

''How many? What skills? What forms of work are they doing?

''The government and the labour market have and continue to focus on the primary applicant - the male head of the family.''

While they may find it more difficult to get a job, skilled migrants were more likely to be employed in a professional role when they did find work.

More than one-third of skilled migrant workers are professionals according to the figures, compared with 20 per cent of workers generally.

The most common industries offering work were scientific and technical services (12 per cent), healthcare and social assistance (12 per cent) and manufacturing (11 per cent).
MIGRANTS AND WORK

- 7.2 per cent of skilled migrants unemployed
- 36 per cent of skilled migrants professionals compared with 20 per cent of workers generally
- Skilled migrants living here for between four and six years 12 per cent more likely to have a full-time job than recent migrants
- 68 per cent of skilled migrant applicants have full-time jobs; 32 per cent of their dependents have full-time jobs

Source:http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/joblessness-higher-among-migrants-20100831-14fnb.html