How are skilled migrants doing?

Birrell, Bob ; Healy, Ernest

Australia has experienced a boom in job creation in recent years. This has mainly been at the skilled end of the workforce and particularly among those holding professional qualifications. However, as the accompanying article in this issue notes, the level of domestic training has fallen way below that needed to fill these skilled occupations. (1) In response, the Coalition Government turned on the skilled migration tap. It increased the skilled component of the settler migration program from 53,520 in 2001-02 to 102,500 in 2007-08.

Other sources of permanent migrants have also increased, including spouses and New Zealand citizens. This is partly because immigration begets more migration, most obviously when skill-selected migrants return home for a bride or groom or sponsor other family members. The bigger the recent migrant base the larger these flow-on movements become. To take one spectacular example, in 2006-07 some 39,075 spouses arrived in Australia from overseas or were granted visas onshore, up from 33,994 in 2004-05. (2) By comparison there are currently only about 111,000 marriages in Australia a year.

The incoming Labor Government has inherited this situation. The current signs are that it intends to open the immigration tap even further. In February 2008, the new government added a further 6000 skilled visas to the 2007-08 skilled program. These numbers include both the skilled workers and their dependants. To our knowledge the incoming government is not basing its immigration decisions on any systematic review of the merits of the Coalition policy. It seems to be assuming that the migrant influx actually efficiently fills skill vacancies. However, there has been no recent public release of data on migrant employment outcomes that would support such an assumption. This article fills this vacuum. It provides information from the two main sources of data on migrant employment outcomes: the 2006 census and the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA).

The skilled migration program has expanded on two fronts. The main front is the points-tested skilled visa categories. The other, though not as large, is the state-specific visa categories, the ostensible goal of which is to increase the flow of skilled migrants to regional areas.

THE POINTS-TESTED VISA CATEGORIES

Professionals dominate the intake under the points-tested skilled visa categories. These visa categories are the main source of professional migrants coming to Australia. In 2005-06 there were 26,822 permanent arrivals to Australia who indicated a professional occupation out of a total of 48,865 arrivals who indicated that they were skilled, that is, that they were managers, professionals, associate professionals or tradespersons. In addition, during 2005-06, a further 13,698 skilled visas were issued within Australia to former overseas students who had completed their courses in professional fields at Australian universities. (3)

Given the serious shortages of professionals in Australia in the health, accounting and engineering fields (among others) the incoming migrant professionals should be being snapped up by employers. This is the case for the minority coming from the UK, New Zealand, South Africa and North America--countries hereafter referred to as Main-English-Speaking Countries (MESC).

But there is a large body of evidence showing that migrants with professional qualifications from Non-English-Speaking Countries (NESC) have, in the past, struggled to find professional employment in Australia. (4) Various factors appear to be involved, including training and experience which is not relevant to Australian employers' needs. Many of these migrants also have not possessed the English language communication skills required for professional practice in Australia.

Partly because of these concerns, since 1999 the Australian government has privileged skilled migration applications from former overseas students who have completed courses in Australia. From mid-1999 former overseas students have been given an additional five points on the selection test if they possessed Australian qualifications accredited by the relevant Australian accrediting authority. Previously, such people had had to apply for a skilled migration visa from overseas but, from mid- 2001, they were permitted to apply onshore in Australia for permanent residence and were encouraged to do so immediately after graduation. They were only permitted to apply onshore if they did so within six months of completing their Australian course. Finally, former overseas students who applied onshore were exempted from the requirement, which applies to skilled migrants applying from overseas, that they must possess work experience in their nominated occupation.

Former overseas students, almost all of whom come from NESC countries have responded strongly to these rule changes. By 2005-06 nearly half the principal applicants visaed under Australia's points-tested Skilled-Independent migration category came from the ranks of these students.

In a further move to target the selection system to occupations in short supply, the Coalition Government focused its selection on migrants with occupations listed on the Migrant Occupations in Demand List (MODL). The decision to place an occupation on the MODL is made by the Department Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) on the basis of advice from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). To be included, an occupation usually has to be in 'national shortage' as indicated by DEEWR's survey of the employment market. Applicants with occupations on this list received an extra 15 points on the selection grid. (5) These 15 points are currently crucial for selection under the points tested categories.

In the case of professional occupations, health occupations (including medical practitioners, nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists) have dominated the MODL list since 2004. But accounting was added in September 2004 and civil engineering in May 2005. Almost all the traditional construction, electrical and metal trades were added in September 2004 or April 2005. Hairdressing has been on the MODL since May 2001 and cooking was added in May 2005. The addition of the traditional trades has improved the prospects of selection for tradesperson in these fields who apply from overseas. As we detail later, the addition of cooking has given enormous impetus to this field of study in Australia for overseas students. (6)

On the face of it, these selection rules should have delivered professionals who met employer needs. Yet evidence has been mounting that they have not. The largest single occupational category within the skilled migration program has been accounting. As noted, accounting was added to the MODL in September 2004. In 2005--06, 3471 accountants entered Australia as settlers with permanent residence visas, most of whom would have been visaed under the offshore Skill-Independent (category 136) visa subclass.(7) Another 6,559 former overseas students with Australian accounting degrees gained onshore skilled migration visas in 2005-06. This 11,000 influx was larger than the around 6,500 domestic annual completions in accounting degrees.(8)

Despite this huge migrant intake, the shortage of accountants continues. The message, growing increasingly insistent from within employer ranks, was that migrant accountants (including those trained in Australia) often lacked the communication skills they were looking for. (9)

In September 2007 the Coalition Government did tighten the visa requirements for skilled migrants, especially those who had been trained in Australia. However, it is far too early to decide whether the reforms have improved the employment situation for skilled migrants.

STATE-SPECIFIC VISAS

The Coalition Government promoted a suite of state-specific visas over the past decade. This reflected complaints from some state governments (mainly South Australia and Victoria) and from regional areas that their skill needs were being neglected. The distinctive feature of these state-specific visas is that they involve concessional entry, that is, concessional relative to the selection criteria for the Skilled-Independent visa subclasses.

The largest of these state-specific visas, the Skilled Designated Area Sponsored visa subclass, allows relatives in 'designated areas' to sponsor brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, even cousins. The sponsored migrant must meet the minimum English standard and have an occupation listed on the Skills Occupation List (SOL). The SOL covers most professional, associate professional, management and trade occupations regardless of whether they are in short supply in Australia. In addition, the sponsored migrant must have his/her credentials recognised by the relevant accrediting authority in Australia. There is no points test, nor any requirement that their occupation be in short supply in Australia.

Since 2007 this visa has only been initially available on a provisional basis. Applicants must first work in a 'designated area' for two of the three provisional years before they will be eligible for permanent residence. One might imagine that 'designated areas' consisted of regional towns and remote areas. In fact Melbourne and Adelaide are 'designated areas', though not Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Most of the migrants sponsored under this visa category are settling in Melbourne. (10)

It is hard to see the sense of allowing this open-ended visa category to flourish. Why would a Labor government want to continue, let alone expand, a visa category that delivers thousands of people to a city that is already bursting at the seams, unless there was evidence that this visa category was helping to meet skill shortages?

DATA SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF MIGRANT EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES

There are two sources of data on the occupational outcomes for migrants recently arrived migrants. One is the 2006 census. For this study, the CPUR purchased a customised 2006 census matrix, which contains information on residents' field and level of qualification, year of arrival (if not born in Australia), age and birthplace and their employment status and occupation if employed. The matrix allows an investigation of the employment outcomes for persons with degree-level qualifications, by field of qualification, by time of arrival in Australia and birthplace. This means that persons qualified in key fields like accounting, information technology and engineering can be identified, as well as their situation in the Australian labour market as of census date August 2006. The focus here is on migrants arriving in Australia between 2001 and 2006.

The other source is DIAC's Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Australia (LSIA), the most recent version of which is titled LSIA 3, wave 2. This provides information on the labour market situation as of late 2006 on some 5000 principal applicants in the Family and Skilled migrant streams. The migrants in question either arrived in Australia between December 2004 and March 2005 or, if former overseas students, were visaed during this period.

We now turn to the relative merits of the two sets of data for this inquiry.

CENSUS STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

The strength of the census is that it provides a complete enumeration of workforce outcomes for migrants and allows comparisons with outcomes for Australian residents. The main weakness of the census is that there are no data on the visa category of persons born overseas when they became permanent residents of Australia, nor any indication of whether they entered as principal applicants or as accompanying family members. The census also does not provide information on when or where qualifications were obtained.

Fortunately, age data makes it possible to differentiate fairly accurately those skilled migrants who applied from overseas (and thus held overseas qualifications) and those who obtained permanent residence in Australia after completing their qualifications here. The former group are mainly aged in their thirties or above and the latter in their twenties. Table 1 is derived from unpublished visa issued data provided by DIAC. It indicates that 87 per cent of those visaed under the main onshore student skilled visa category (880) were aged 20 to 29 at the time their permanent resident visa was issued (at least over the four years 2001-02 to 2004-05 for which the CPUR holds the relevant data). On the other hand, 83.4 per cent of those visaed under the main Skilled-Independent offshore subclass (category 136) were aged over 30 when their visas were issued.

Table 1: Age distribution of migrants visaed under the onshore overseas
student 880 visa subclass and offshore 136 visa subclass, 2001-2002
to 2004-2005, principal applicants only

Age Program year
group

 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 Total Share of
 total
 (percent)

Onshore 880 visa subclass
20-24 1770 2912 4307 6508 15497 43.7
25-29 2623 3234 4641 4922 15420 43.7
30-34 721 733 1030 1220 3704 10.4
35-39 147 139 169 255 699 2.0
40-44 12 17 28 65 122 0.3
45-49 1 2 2 4 9 0.0
Total (1) 5284 7049 10188 12978 35499 100.0

Offshore 136 visa subclass
20-24 1 937 4 942 2.0
25-29 976 4430 528 464 6398 13.3
30-34 3761 4091 4137 3761 15750 32.7
35-39 3030 2400 4344 4291 14065 29.2
40-44 1622 1273 2198 2244 7337 15.2
45-49 872 404 865 906 3047 6.3
Total (1) 10263 13535 12073 11672 47543 98.8

Source: DIMA/DIAC, visas issued data, dataset held by CPUR
Note: (1) Total includes age invalid or unknown.

Thus te age categories 20 to 29 and 30 to 64 fairly closely match migrants visaed under the onshore student program and the offshore Skilled--Independent category respectively. (Table 1 does not include persons over the age of 49 because persons over this age are not eligible for selection.) As a consequence, the census-based employment outcome data reported below for the younger age group provide a good indicator of the employment outcomes for migrants who are former overseas students. Likewise, the outcomes for the older age group are indicative of the situation of skilled migrants visaed from offshore locations.

These assertions depend on the assumption that most of those with degree qualifications, whether onshore or offshore applicants, were selected under the skilled visa subclasses. This proposition can be checked. Table 1 shows that there were 35,499 visas issued under the 880 visa category over the years 2001-02 to 2004-05, some 90 per cent of which were issued to degree qualified students. A further 15,000 880 visas were issued in 2005-06. There were another 5000 visas issued over the five years in question to the other, smaller onshore overseas-student skilled visa categories (881 and 882). Therefore, the potential stock of former overseas students with Australian degree qualifications who were in Australia as of 2006 and who arrived between 2001 and 2006 would have been about 55,000. Almost all of these migrants were born in NESC countries. According to Table 2, there were 74,563 persons enumerated in the 2006 census who arrived 2001-2006, who were aged 20 to 29, who held degree qualifications and who came from NESC countries. The implication is that, about 20,000 of the 74,563 entered Australia via pathways other than through the onshore former overseas-student skilled visa categories.

In the case of migrants aged 30 to 64, most of those with degree qualifications enter Australia via the Skilled-Independent group (visa subclass 136) and the state specific visa categories. However, there is an additional stream of permanent residents whose stated occupations imply that they also hold degree qualifications. Most of these would have entered via the family stream or are New Zealand citizens who state that they intend to stay permanently in Australia.(11)

Table 2: Job outcomes of Australia-born and overseas-born persons (who
arrived 2001 to 2006) aged 20 to 29 and 30 to 64 years with degree
qualifications by birthplace regions and job outcomes, 2006 (per cent)

 Managers Profs Technicians Community
 and trades and personal
 workers service wkrs,
 clerical/
 administrative
 and sales
 workers

 20 to 29 years

MESC (3) 9 48 3 21

Northern, 5 32 3 23
western,
southern and
eastern
Europe

North Africa 3 19 4 15
and the Middle
East

South East 3 22 4 23
Asia

China excl 2 14 2 22
SARs and
Taiwan
Province

North East 2 16 3 19
Asia

India 3 19 4 28

Bangladesh, 3 15 5 25
Pakistan, Sri
Lanka

Other NESC 4 26 4 26

Total NESC 3 19 4 24
(3)

Total 4 24 4 23
overseas-born

Australia 8 56 3 21

 30 to 64 years

MESC 18 47 3 12

Northern, 12 40 4 14
Western,
Southern and
Eastern
Europe

North Africa 5 25 4 12
and the Middle
East

South East 7 23 5 18
Asia

China cxcl 6 20 6 18
SARs and
Taiwan
Province

North East 9 17 4 14
Asia

India 7 31 4 21

Bangladesh, 4 30 4 16
Pakistan, Sri
Lanka

Other NESC 9 36 4 15

Total NESC 8 28 4 17

Total 11 34 4 15
overseas-born

Australia 16 51 2 12


 Operatives Total Unemployed Not in
 and employed (1) the
 labourers labour
 force

 20 to 29 years

MESC (3) 3 85 4 12

Northern, 4 70 7 23
western,
southern and
eastern
Europe

North Africa 6 49 9 41
and the Middle
East

South East 9 61 8 31
Asia

China excl 9 51 13 36
SARs and
Taiwan
Province

North East 5 46 8 45
Asia

India 14 70 9 20

Bangladesh, 16 65 8 26
Pakistan, Sri
Lanka

Other NESC 12 73 8 18

Total NESC 10 61 10 29
(3)

Total 9 65 9 26
overseas-born

Australia 2 91 2 7

 30 to 64 years

MESC 1 84 3 13

Northern, 3 76 5 18
Western,
Southern and
Eastern
Europe

North Africa 6 53 11 36
and the Middle
East

South East 10 68 7 25
Asia

China cxcl 9 65 10 24
SARs and
Taiwan
Province

North East 4 52 6 42
Asia

India 6 74 8 17

Bangladesh, 11 70 8 21
Pakistan, Sri
Lanka

Other NESC 7 75 6 18

Total NESC 7 68 7 24

Total 5 74 6 20
overseas-born

Australia 1 87 1 11

 Total % Total N (2)

 20 to 29 years

MESC (3) 100 15,725

Northern, 100 5,398
western,
southern and
Eastern
Europe

North Africa 100 2,938
and the Middle
East

South East 100 14,273
Asia

China excl 100 15,529
SARs and
Taiwan
Province

North East 100 5,760
Asia

India 100 20,653

Bangladesh, 100 4,824
Pakistan, Sri
Lanka

Other NESC 100 5,188

Total NESC (3) 100 74,563

Total 100 90,416
overseas-born

Australia 100 339,400

 30 to 64 years

MESC 100 41,236

Northern, 100 10,704
Western,
Southern and
Eastern
Europe

North Africa 100 5,148
and the Middle
East

South East 100 17,207
Asia

China excl 100 9,744
SARs and
Taiwan
Province

North East 100 8,417
Asia

India 100 14,131

Bangladesh, 100 6,528
Pakistan, Sri
Lanka

Other NESC 100 9,052

Total NESC 100 80,931

Total 100 122,396
overseas-born

Australia 100 1,116,397

Source: ABS, 2006 Census, customised dataset held by CPUR
Notes: (1) Total includes inadequately described, not stated and
not applicable
(2) Total includes labor force status not stated
(3) For an explanation of MESC and NESC see text p. 2.

It may be that permanent residents with degree qualifications who enter Australia outside the skill-selected visa categories do not do as well as their skill-selected counterparts in gaining professional or other skilled jobs. To the extent this is the case, the census-based tables presented below understate the job outcomes of the skill-selected migrants.

For some purposes however, the visa category of migrants is irrelevant. Whatever their entry pathway all are now members of the Australian community. If they cannot put their qualifications to work the Australian government should know about this. It might prompt policy initiatives to help them into the professional workforce and thus reduce the need to recruit overseas. The strength of the census is that, because it is a complete enumeration, it provides the required information.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE LSIA

As indicated, the main strength of the LSIA is that it identifies the visa category of those surveyed as well as the other variables available in the census, including field of qualification, level of qualification and occupation in Australia. However, LSIA 3, waves 1 and 2, only survey principal applicants in the skill and family stream.

The main weakness of LSIA 3 is that it was not based on a scientifically-drawn sample. The 2005 LSIA differed from earlier versions, which were based on such a sample. LSIA 3 began with an initial survey in 2005 of some 20,600 migrants who arrived or, in the case of former overseas students, were visaed in the period December 2004 to March 2008 and for whom DIAC had address information. The around 10,000 who responded are likely to have been those with more settled addresses and employment situations. The same point applies to the 5000 DIAC was able to contact (out of the original 10,000 who responded in wave 1) when the second wave was conducted 12 months later. Thus it is arguable that the LSIA incorporates a response bias which favours migrants with stable addresses who were doing relatively well in the Australian labour market.

As far as the skill selected migrants are concerned, the LSIA findings are likely to be influenced by the response bias described above. This means that the level of success it reports for degree qualified migrants obtaining professional positions is likely to be an overstatement of the actual rate for all skill-selected migrants. The findings from the LSIA will be reported after an analysis of the census results.

OCCUPATIONAL OUTCOMES AS REPORTED IN THE 2006 CENSUS

Table 2 shows the outcomes for all over-seas-born persons aged 20 to 29 and 30 to 64 who indicated that they possessed a degree level qualification or above and who arrived in Australia over the years 2001 to 2006.

The job outcomes revealed in the 2006 census are similar to those in the 2001, 1996 and 1991 censuses. Recently-arrived persons holding degree-level qualifications born in MESC countries do almost as well in the labour market as do similarly qualified Australia-born persons. The proportion who had obtained professional or managerial positions by 2006 was 57 per cent for the 20 to 29-year-old MESC-born group and 65 per cent for the 30 to 64-year-old MESC-born group.

Similarly, little has changed regarding the difficulties that persons from NESC birthplaces have in the Australian labour market. Only 28 per cent of the NESC-born group aged 20 to 29 who were degree qualified held professional or managerial positions by 2006 and only 36 per cent of the 30 to 64-year-old NESC-born group. Those born in China, North-East Asia, India and Bangladesh/Pakistan/Sri Lanka-born are experiencing the greatest problems in finding professional and managerial positions, particularly among those in the 20 to 29-year-old age group. The largest group among these four regions was the India-born. There were 20,653 persons aged 20 to 29 from India with degree qualifications who arrived in Australia between 2001 and 2006. By census date in 2006 only 22 per cent of these migrants had found professional or managerial positions. The parallel figure for the China-born, at 16 per cent, was even lower.

The most surprising finding, given the assumptions about the value of Australian training which underpin the prioritisation of former overseas students in the selection system, is that the share of the 30 to 64 NESC-born age group who achieved a professional or managerial outcome (36 per cent) was considerably higher than that of the younger group (22 per cent). This finding applies to all the birthplace groups listed under the NESC-born category. This raises the question, pursued later, whether Australian training actually bestows an advantage in the Australia labour market as is assumed under current DIAC selection policy.

We now explore occupational outcomes by field of qualification. Tables 3a and 3b provide details of occupational outcomes for recently arrived migrants by each major field of qualification for the 20 to 29 and 30 to 64-year-old age groups.

Table 3a: Australia-born and overseas-born persons (who arrived 2001
to 2006) aged 20 to 29 years, with bachelor degree or higher, by field
of qualification and job outcomes, 2006 (per cent)

Birthplace Field of Managers Professionals
group qualification same field other field

MESC (2) Natural and 6 21 23
 physical
 sciences

 Information 7 46 12
 technology

 Engineering and 7 43 22
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 13 37 15
 building

 Medical studies 2 85 2

 Nursing 0 89 1

 Balance of 4 48 19
 health

 Education 4 53 5

 Accounting 9 57 22

 Balance of 17 31 5
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 9 9 26
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 9 48

NESC (2) Natural and 2 7 11
 physical
 sciences

 Information 3 18 5
 technology

 Engineering and 3 11 14
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 2 27 6
 building

 Medical studies 0 40 5

 Nursing 0 53 0

 Balance of 1 27 7
 health

 Education 1 14 3

 Accounting 2 18 5

 Balance of 4 9 3
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2 3 9
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 3 19

Australia Natural and 6 21 21
-born physical
 sciences

 Information 7 48 11
 technology

 Engineering and 8 49 24
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 11 47 7
 building

 Medical studies 1 83 6

 Nursing 1 86 2

 Balance of 3 57 14
 health

 Education 2 79 2

 Accounting 6 68 11

 Balance of 18 34 6
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 7 21 23
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 8 56

Birthplace Field of Tech and Comm. &
group qualification trades pers. service,
 workers clerical/admin
 and sales wkrs

MESC (2) Natural and 5 16
 physical
 sciences

 Information 10 10
 technology

 Engineering and 6 7
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 12 11
 building

 Medical studies 1 2

 Nursing 0 3

 Balance of 1 14
 health

 Education 1 18

 Accounting 0 4

 Balance of 2 30
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 3 31
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 3 21

NESC (2) Natural and 5 16
 physical
 sciences

 Information 6 23
 technology

 Engineering and 5 16
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 10 12
 building

 Medical studies 1 7

 Nursing 1 14

 Balance of 2 17
 health

 Education 3 20

 Accounting 1 31

 Balance of 2 31
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 3 24
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 4 24

Australia Natural and 9 21
-born physical
 sciences

 Information 12 11
 technology

 Engineering and 5 6
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 11 13
 building

 Medical studies 1 3

 Nursing 0 4

 Balance of 2 16
 health

 Education 0 8

 Accounting 0 9

 Balance of 1 32
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 3 33
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 3 21

 Birthplace Field of Machine Inad. descr.
 group qualification operators/ not stated
 drivers &
 labourers

MESC (2) Natural and 3 1
 physical
 sciences

 Information 3 1
 technology

 Engineering and 3 1
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 0 0
 building

 Medical studies 0 1

 Nursing 0 0

 Balance of 2 0
 health

 Education 2 0

 Accounting 0 2

 Balance of 3 1
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 3 0
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 3 1

NESC (2) Natural and 8 1
 physical
 sciences

 Information 14 2
 technology

 Engineering and 14 1
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 7 0
 building

 Medical studies 3 0

 Nursing 4 0

 Balance of 6 1
 health

 Education 8 1

 Accounting 10 2

 Balance of 9 1
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 8 0
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 10 1

Australia Natural and 4 1
-born physical
 sciences

 Information 2 2
 technology

 Engineering and 2 1
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 2 1
 building

 Medical studies 0 0

 Nursing 0 0

 Balance of 1 0
 health

 Education 1 0

 Accounting 1 0

 Balance of 2 1
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2 0
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 2 1

 Birthplace Field of Total Unempl.
 group qualification employed

MESC (2) Natural and 75 3
 physical
 sciences

 Information 89 4
 technology

 Engineering and 88 2
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 89 4
 building

 Medical studies 91 1

 Nursing 94 1

 Balance of 88 2
 health

 Education 83 3

 Accounting 93 2

 Balance of 89 4
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 82 4
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 85 4

NESC (2) Natural and 49 8
 physical
 sciences

 Information 71 9
 technology

 Engineering and 66 9
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 64 8
 building

 Medical studies 58 10

 Nursing 73 6

 Balance of 60 8
 health

 Education 49 10

 Accounting 69 10

 Balance of 59 10
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 51 11
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 61 10

Australia Natural and 82 3
-born physical
 sciences

 Information 93 3
 technology

 Engineering and 94 1
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 92 2
 building

 Medical studies 94 1

 Nursing 94 1

 Balance of 93 1
 health

 Education 93 1

 Accounting 96 1

 Balance of 94 2
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 89 3
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 91 2

 Birthplace Field of Not in Total Total (1)
 group qualification labour force % N

MESC (2) Natural and 22 100 1,776
 physical
 sciences

 Information 7 100 700
 technology

 Engineering and 9 100 1,039
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 7 100 288
 building

 Medical studies 8 100 389

 Nursing 5 100 716

 Balance of 9 100 873
 health

 Education 13 100 1,018

 Accounting 5 100 692

 Balance of 7 100 2,642
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 14 100 4,939
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 12 100 15,725

NESC (2) Natural and 42 100 4,463
 physical
 sciences

 Information 19 100 13,395
 technology

 Engineering and 25 100 8,231
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 28 100 1,251
 building

 Medical studies 32 100 1,006

 Nursing 21 100 1,195

 Balance of 31 100 2,216
 health

 Education 40 100 2,312

 Accounting 21 100 9,703

 Balance of 30 100 16,942
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 38 100 10,563
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 29 100 74,563

Australia Natural and 15 100 27,819
-born physical
 sciences

 Information 4 100 16,285
 technology

 Engineering and 4 100 19,242
 related
 technologies

 Architecture and 6 100 6,177
 building

 Medical studies 6 100 3,314

 Nursing 5 100 18,368

 Balance of 6 100 24,410
 health

 Education 6 100 50,122

 Accounting 3 100 14,382

 Balance of 4 100 54,882
 business, human
 resource and
 marketing

 Society and 8 100 86,301
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 7 100 339,400

Source: ABS, customised 2006 census dataset held by CPUR
Notes: (1) Total includes labour force not stated
(2) For an explanation of MESC and NESC see text p.2
(3) Total includes the following fields of study: 'Mixed field
programmes' and 'Balance of food, hospitality and personal
services' (not shown in table)

The tables show that in the case of the NESC-born persons, those in the 30 to 64 age group consistently outperform the 20 to 29-year-old age group in each of the fields of qualification listed. This is despite the fact that most of the younger age group would have gained their degree qualifications in Australia. In the case of those with degree qualifications in engineering, Table 3b shows that 47 per cent of the 30 to 64-year-old NESC-born group had found professional or managerial positions by 2006. Yet only 28 per cent of the 20 to 29-year-old counterparts with engineering qualifications had found such positions.

Table 3b: Australia-born and overseas-born persons
(who arrived 2001 to 2006) aged 30

Birthplace Field of Managers Professionals
 group qualification same field other field

MESC(2) Natural and physical 18 18 33
 sciences

 Information 17 45 13
 technology

 Engineering and 25 33 21
 related technologies

 Architecture and 17 32 19
 building

 Medical studies 2 81 6

 Nursing 3 77 3

 Balance of health 6 45 23

 Education 5 50 6

 Accounting 28 37 14

 Balance of business, 35 22 9
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 15 14 27
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 18 47

NESC (2) Natural and physical 6 13 20
 sciences

 Information 7 34 9
 technology

 Engineering and 10 18 19
 related technologies

 Architecture and 6 28 9
 building

 Medical studies 1 59 7

 Nursing 1 62 1

 Balance of health 4 21 16

 Education 2 24 4

 Accounting 7 28 8

 Balance of business 14 12 7
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 7 6 13
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 8 28

Australia- Natural and physical 17 20 30
born sciences

 Information 18 42 14
 technology

 Engineering and 26 30 22
 related technologies

 Architecture and 18 46 10
 building

 Medical studies 2 84 6

 Nursing 5 65 4

 Balance of health 8 48 21

 Education 11 59 5

 Accounting 22 44 11

 Balance of business, 37 22 10
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 13 25 24
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 16 51

Birthplace Field of Tech. Comm. &
 group qualification and pers. service
 & clerical/admin
 trades and sales
 workers wkrs


MESC (2) Natural and physical 4 9
 sciences

 Information 5 7
 technology

 Engineering and 5 7
 related technologies

 Architecture and 9 12
 building

 Medical studies 1 1

 Nursing 0 4

 Balance of health 1 8

 Education 1 11

 Accounting 1 8

 Balance of business, 2 17
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2 18
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 3 12

NESC (2) Natural and physical 6 12
 sciences

 Information 7 13
 technology

 Engineering and 10 10
 related technologies

 Architecture and 12 10
 building

 Medical studies 2 5

 Nursing 1 10

 Balance of health 3 14

 Education 2 16

 Accounting 2 23

 Balance of business 3 25
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 3 20
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 4 17

Australia- Natural and physical 5 12
born sciences

 Information 6 8
 technology

 Engineering and 5 6
 related technologies

 Architecture and 7 8
 building

 Medical studies 0 1

 Nursing 1 9

 Balance of health 1 10

 Education 1 8

 Accounting 1 11

 Balance of business, 1 18
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2 18
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 2 12

Birthplace Field of Machine.
 group qualification operators/
 drivers &
 labourers

MESC (2) Natural and physical 1
 sciences

 Information 1
 technology

 Engineering and 1
 related technologies

 Architecture and 1
 building

 Medical studies 0

 Nursing 0

 Balance of health 0

 Education 1

 Accounting 1

 Balance of business, 1
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 1

NESC (2) Natural and physical 7
 sciences

 Information 7
 technology

 Engineering and 10
 related technologies

 Architecture and 6
 building

 Medical studies 2

 Nursing 1

 Balance of health 5

 Education 7

 Accounting 7

 Balance of business 8
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 7
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 7

Australia- Natural and physical 2
born sciences

 Information 1
 technology

 Engineering and 2
 related technologies

 Architecture and 1
 building

 Medical studies 0

 Nursing 1

 Balance of health 1

 Education 1

 Accounting 1

 Balance of business, 1
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 1
 culture/creative arts

 Total (3) 1

Birthplace Field of Inad Total un
group qualification descr. employed empl.
 Not in
 not
 stated

MESC (2) Natural and physical 1 83 2
 sciences

 Information 1 89 3
 technology

 Engineering and 1 93 2
 related technologies

 Architecture and 0 90 2
 building

 Medical studies 0 92 1

 Nursing 0 87 1

 Balance of health 1 83 2

 Education 0 74 3

 Accounting 1 89 2

 Balance of business, 1 86 3
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 1 79 3
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 1 84 3

NESC (2) Natural and physical 1 65 7
 sciences

 Information 2 79 7
 technology

 Engineering and 1 78 7
 related technologies

 Architecture and 0 72 7
 building

 Medical studies 0 76 6

 Nursing 0 76 3

 Balance of health 1 64 7

 Education 1 56 6

 Accounting 1 75 8

 Balance of business 2 70 8
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 1 56 8
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 1 68 7

Australia- Natural and physical 1 86 2
born sciences

 Information 1 91 2
 technology

 Engineering and 1 92 1
 related technologies

 Architecture and 1 91 1
 building

 Medical studies 1 95 0

 Nursing 0 85 1

 Balance of health 1 89 1

 Education 0 86 1

 Accounting 1 91 1

 Balance of business, 1 90 2
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 1 84 2
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 1 87 1


Birthplace Field of Not in Total Total
group qualification labour % N (1)
 force

MESC (2) Natural and physical 14 100 3,716
 sciences

 Information 8 100 1,996
 technology

 Engineering and 5 100 4,252
 related technologies

 Architecture and 8 100 873
 building

 Medical studies 7 100 1,350

 Nursing 11 100 2,989

 Balance of health 15 100 2,105

 Education 22 100 3,724

 Accounting 9 100 2,327

 Balance of business, 11 100 6,559
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 17 100 10,098
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 13 100 41,236

NESC (2) Natural and physical 27 100 6,293
 sciences

 Information 14 100 6,890
 technology

 Engineering and 15 100 11,321
 related technologies

 Architecture and 20 100 1,426
 building

 Medical studies 18 100 4,106

 Nursing 20 100 2,773

 Balance of health 29 100 3,041

 Education 35 100 5,676

 Accounting 17 100 7,231

 Balance of business 22 100 13,914
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 35 100 14.645
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 24 100 80,931

Australia- Natural and physical 12 100 76,663
born sciences

 Information 7 100 32,005
 technology

 Engineering and 7 100 63.851
 related technologies

 Architecture and 7 100 19,861
 building

 Medical studies 5 100 21933

 Nursing 4 100 98,419

 Balance of health 10 100 60,152

 Education 13 100 248,443

 Accounting 8 100 61,900

 Balance of business, 8 100 139,078
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 14 100 246,479
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 11 100 1,116,397

Source: ABS, customised 2006 census dataset held by CPUR

Notes: (1) Total includes force status not stated
(2) For an explanation of M ESC and NESC see text p. 2.
(3) Total includes the following fields of study, 'Mixed field
programs' and 'Balance of food, hopsitality and personal
services' (not shown in table)

Tables 3a and 3b also confirm the aggregate finding shown in Table 2 that, for each of the qualification fields listed, the MESC and Australia-born groups do considerably better than their NESC-born counterparts in gaining professional or managerial positions. This is a serious matter because it means that large numbers of NESC-born migrants are wasting their qualifications. This is clearly the case with the engineers just mentioned. Table 3a shows that some 8,231 20 to 29-year-old NESC-born migrants with degree qualifications in engineering (who arrived between the years 2001 and 2006) were in Australia at the time of census. As noted, only 28 per cent of this number had found jobs as managers or professionals by 2006. This wastage was much worse for 20 to 29-year-old NESC-born migrants with IT, accounting and other business qualifications.

Table 3b: Australia-born and overseas-born persons (who arrived 2001 to 2006) aged 30

Birthplace Field of Managers Professionals
 group qualification same field other field

MESC(2) Natural and physical 18 18 33
 sciences

 Information 17 45 13
 technology

 Engineering and 25 33 21
 related technologies

 Architecture and 17 32 19
 building

 Medical studies 2 81 6

 Nursing 3 77 3

 Balance of health 6 45 23

 Education 5 50 6

 Accounting 28 37 14

 Balance of business, 35 22 9
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 15 14 27
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 18 47

NESC (2) Natural and physical 6 13 20
 sciences

 Information 7 34 9
 technology

 Engineering and 10 18 19
 related technologies

 Architecture and 6 28 9
 building

 Medical studies 1 59 7

 Nursing 1 62 1

 Balance of health 4 21 16

 Education 2 24 4

 Accounting 7 28 8

 Balance of business 14 12 7
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 7 6 13
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 8 28

Australia- Natural and physical 17 20 30
born sciences

 Information 18 42 14
 technology

 Engineering and 26 30 22
 related technologies

 Architecture and 18 46 10
 building

 Medical studies 2 84 6

 Nursing 5 65 4

 Balance of health 8 48 21

 Education 11 59 5

 Accounting 22 44 11

 Balance of business, 37 22 10
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 13 25 24
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 16 51

Birthplace Field of Tech. Comm. &
 group qualification and pers. service
 & clerical/admin
 trades and sales
 workers wkrs


MESC (2) Natural and physical 4 9
 sciences

 Information 5 7
 technology

 Engineering and 5 7
 related technologies

 Architecture and 9 12
 building

 Medical studies 1 1

 Nursing 0 4

 Balance of health 1 8

 Education 1 11

 Accounting 1 8

 Balance of business, 2 17
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2 18
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 3 12

NESC (2) Natural and physical 6 12
 sciences

 Information 7 13
 technology

 Engineering and 10 10
 related technologies

 Architecture and 12 10
 building

 Medical studies 2 5

 Nursing 1 10

 Balance of health 3 14

 Education 2 16

 Accounting 2 23

 Balance of business 3 25
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 3 20
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 4 17

Australia- Natural and physical 5 12
born sciences

 Information 6 8
 technology

 Engineering and 5 6
 related technologies

 Architecture and 7 8
 building

 Medical studies 0 1

 Nursing 1 9

 Balance of health 1 10

 Education 1 8

 Accounting 1 11

 Balance of business, 1 18
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2 18
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 2 12

Birthplace Field of Machine.
 group qualification operators/
 drivers &
 labourers

MESC (2) Natural and physical 1
 sciences

 Information 1
 technology

 Engineering and 1
 related technologies

 Architecture and 1
 building

 Medical studies 0

 Nursing 0

 Balance of health 0

 Education 1

 Accounting 1

 Balance of business, 1
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 2
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 1

NESC (2) Natural and physical 7
 sciences

 Information 7
 technology

 Engineering and 10
 related technologies

 Architecture and 6
 building

 Medical studies 2

 Nursing 1

 Balance of health 5

 Education 7

 Accounting 7

 Balance of business 8
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 7
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 7

Australia- Natural and physical 2
born sciences

 Information 1
 technology

 Engineering and 2
 related technologies

 Architecture and 1
 building

 Medical studies 0

 Nursing 1

 Balance of health 1

 Education 1

 Accounting 1

 Balance of business, 1
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 1
 culture/creative arts

 Total (3) 1

Birthplace Field of Inad Total un
group qualification descr. employed empl.
 Not in
 not
 stated

MESC (2) Natural and physical 1 83 2
 sciences

 Information 1 89 3
 technology

 Engineering and 1 93 2
 related technologies

 Architecture and 0 90 2
 building

 Medical studies 0 92 1

 Nursing 0 87 1

 Balance of health 1 83 2

 Education 0 74 3

 Accounting 1 89 2

 Balance of business, 1 86 3
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 1 79 3
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 1 84 3

NESC (2) Natural and physical 1 65 7
 sciences

 Information 2 79 7
 technology

 Engineering and 1 78 7
 related technologies

 Architecture and 0 72 7
 building

 Medical studies 0 76 6

 Nursing 0 76 3

 Balance of health 1 64 7

 Education 1 56 6

 Accounting 1 75 8

 Balance of business 2 70 8
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 1 56 8
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 1 68 7

Australia- Natural and physical 1 86 2
born sciences

 Information 1 91 2
 technology

 Engineering and 1 92 1
 related technologies

 Architecture and 1 91 1
 building

 Medical studies 1 95 0

 Nursing 0 85 1

 Balance of health 1 89 1

 Education 0 86 1

 Accounting 1 91 1

 Balance of business, 1 90 2
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 1 84 2
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 1 87 1


Birthplace Field of Not in Total Total
group qualification labour % N (1)
 force

MESC (2) Natural and physical 14 100 3,716
 sciences

 Information 8 100 1,996
 technology

 Engineering and 5 100 4,252
 related technologies

 Architecture and 8 100 873
 building

 Medical studies 7 100 1,350

 Nursing 11 100 2,989

 Balance of health 15 100 2,105

 Education 22 100 3,724

 Accounting 9 100 2,327

 Balance of business, 11 100 6,559
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 17 100 10,098
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 13 100 41,236

NESC (2) Natural and physical 27 100 6,293
 sciences

 Information 14 100 6,890
 technology

 Engineering and 15 100 11,321
 related technologies

 Architecture and 20 100 1,426
 building

 Medical studies 18 100 4,106

 Nursing 20 100 2,773

 Balance of health 29 100 3,041

 Education 35 100 5,676

 Accounting 17 100 7,231

 Balance of business 22 100 13,914
 human source and
 marketing

 Society and 35 100 14.645
 culture/creative
 arts

 Total (3) 24 100 80,931

Australia- Natural and physical 12 100 76,663
born sciences

 Information 7 100 32,005
 technology

 Engineering and 7 100 63.851
 related technologies

 Architecture and 7 100 19,861
 building

 Medical studies 5 100 21933

 Nursing 4 100 98,419

 Balance of health 10 100 60,152

 Education 13 100 248,443

 Accounting 8 100 61,900

 Balance of business, 8 100 139,078
 human resource and
 marketing

 Society and 14 100 246,479
 culture/creativearts

 Total (3) 11 100 1,116,397

Source: ABS, customised 2006 census dataset held by CPUR

Notes: (1) Total includes force status not stated
(2) For an explanation of M ESC and NESC see text p. 2.
(3) Total includes the following fields of study, 'Mixed field
programs' and 'Balance of food, hopsitality and personal
services' (not shown in table)

The situation for medically-qualified NESC-born persons who arrived between 2001 and 2006 was also less than satisfactory. Only 40 per cent of the 1,006 NESC-born with medical qualifications who were aged 20 to 29 were employed as doctors and 59 per cent of their 4,106 counterparts aged 30 to 64. By contrast, 85 per cent and 81 per cent respectively of the MESC-born who were medically-qualified were employed as doctors.

THE ACCOUNTING EXPERIENCE

As stated earlier, accountants are the largest single professional occupational group of migrants currently being attracted to Australia. Moreover, most of these accountants were former overseas students who completed their accounting qualifications at Australian universities. Their experience in the Australian labour market is a central indicator of where the increased emphasis on onshore former overseas students is taking the skilled migration program.

Table 4 provides details of the job outcomes for recently arrived migrants who specified that their degree qualifications were in accounting. Accounting has been listed on the MODL since September 2004. Given employers' need for accountants the migrants in question should have done well in the accounting labour market.

Table 4: Australia-born and overseas-born persons (who arrived 2001 to
2006) aged 20 to 29 and 30 to 64 years with a bachelor degree or higher
in accounting by birthplace region and job outcomes, 2006 (per cent)

Birthplace/birthplace group Managers Accountants

 20 to 29 years
MESC (3) 9 57
Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern Europe 3 35
North Africa and Middle East 6 16
South East Asia 2 23
China excl. SARs and Taiwan Province 2 16
North East Asia 1 22
India 3 14
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 3 14
Other 3 35
Total NESC (3) 2 18
Total overseas born 3 21
Australia 6 68
 30 to 64 years
MESC (3) 28 37
Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern Europe 13 35
North Africa and the Middle East 7 9
South East Asia 7 23
China excl SARs Taiwan Province 4 30
North East Asia 5 27
India 8 28
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 5 31
Other 12 38
Total NESC (3) 7 28
Total overseas born 12 30
Australia 22 44

Birthplace/birthplace group Other Technicians
 professionals and trades

 20 to 29 years
MESC (3) 22 0
Northern, Western, Southern and 11 2
Eastern Europe
North Africa and Middle East 1 3
South East Asia 10 1
China excl. SARs and Taiwan 4 1
Province
North East Asia 6 0
India 4 1
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri 3 4
Lanka
Other 8 2
Total NESC (3) 5 1
Total overseas born 6 1
Australia 11 0
 30 to 64 years
MESC (3) 14 1
Northern, Western, Southern and 11 1
Eastern Europe
North Africa and the Middle 6 3
East
South East Asia 8 2
China excl SARs Taiwan 4 2
Province
North East Asia 7 2
India 8 1
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri 7 1
Lanka
Other 13 1
Total NESC (3) 8 2
Total overseas born 9 1
Australia 11 1

Birthplace/birthplace group Comm. & Machine
 pers. service operators/
 clerical/admin drivers &
 and sales wrks labourers

 20 to 29 years
MESC (3) 4 0
Northern, Western, Southern and 22 3
Eastern Europe
North Africa and Middle East 26 7
South East Asia 30 6
China excl. SARs and Taiwan 30 8
Province
North East Asia 27 5
India 36 15
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 33 20
Other 25 8
Total NESC (3) 31 10
Total overseas born 29 9
Australia 9 1
 30 to 64 years
MESC (3) 8 1
Northern, Western, Southern and 14 5
Eastern Europe
North Africa and the Middle East 15 9
South East Asia 24 9
China excl SARs Taiwan Province 24 6
North East Asia 16 4
India 28 7
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 23 12
Other 15 6
Total NESC (3) 23 7
Total overseas born 19 6
Australia 11 1

Birthplace/birthplace group Total Unemployed
 employed (1)

 20 to 29 years
MESC (3) 93 2
Northern, Western, Southern and 79 9
Eastern Europe
North Africa and Middle East 60 10
South East Asia 72 8
China excl. SARs and Taiwan 62 12
Province
North East Asia 62 13
India 74 9
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 78 6
Other 82 7
Total NESC (3) 69 10
Total overseas born 71 9
Australia 96 1
 30 to 64 years
MESC (3) 89 2
Northern, Western, Southern and 79 5
Eastern Europe
North Africa and the Middle East 49 14
South East Asia 72 7
China excl SARs Taiwan Province 71 10
North East Asia 62 8
India 81 8
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 81 7
Other 86 3
Total NESC (3) 75 8
Total overseas born 78 6
Australia 91 1

Birthplace/birthplace group Not in the Total (2) Total (2)
 labour force % N

 20 to 29 years
MESC (3) 5 100 692
Northern, Western, Southern and 13 100 192
Eastern Europe
North Africa and Middle East 30 100 207
South East Asia 20 100 1,670
China excl. SARs and Taiwan 26 100 3,526
Province
North East Asia 25 100 397
India 16 100 2,556
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri 16 100 607
Lanka
Other 10 100 548
Total NESC (3) 21 100 9,703
Total overseas born 20 100 10,407
Australia 3 100 14,382
 30 to 64 years
MESC (3) 9 100 2,327
Northern, Western, Southern and 16 100 269
Eastern Europe
North Africa and the Middle 37 100 282
East
South East Asia 20 100 2,046
China excl SARs Taiwan 18 100 1,256
Province
North East Asia 28 100 380
India 10 100 1,483
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri 11 100 681
Lanka
Other 10 100 836
Total NESC (3) 17 100 7,231
Total overseas born 15 100 9,564
Australia 8 100 61,900

Source: ABS, 2006 Census, customised dataset held by CPUR
Notes: (1) Total includes inadequately described, not stated and
not applicable
(2) Total includes labor force status not stated
(3) For an explanation of MESC and NESC see text p. 2.

Table 5: Australia-born and overseas-born persons
(who arrived 2001 to 2006) aged 20 to 29 and 30 to 64 years
with Certificate level III or IV qualifications by job outcomes
for all areas and for cooking, 2006 (per cent)

Birthplace/birthplace Managers Professionals Technicians and
group trade workers

All trades areas
MESC (3) 5 9 47

NESC (3) 2 5 23

Australia 6 10 41

MESC 9 7 45

NESC 4 3 33

Australia 12 5 33

 chefs/cooks

cooks

MESC 5 1 61

NESC 1 1 52

Australia 5 1 56

MESC 10 1 44

NESC 3 1 62

Australia 12 3 35


Birthplace/birthplace group Comm. and
 pers. service,
 clerical/admin
 and sales
 workers
All trades areas
MESC (3) 17
NESC (3) 19
Australia 25

MESC 13
NESC 14
Australia 19
 other
 technicians
 and trades
cooks
MESC 5 10
NESC 4 9
Australia 0 12

MESC 5 11
NESC 4 4
Australia 4 15


Birthplace/birthplace group Machinery
 operators/
 drivers and
 labourers

All trades areas 20 to 29 years
MESC (3) 13
NESC (3) 16
Australia 10
 30 to 64 years
MESC 11
NESC 17
Australia 13

cooks 20 to 29 years
MESC 10
NESC 10
Australia 9
 30 to 64 years
MESC 13
NESC 7
Australia 12

Birthplace/birthplace group Total Unemployed Not in
 employed(1) the
 labour force

All trades areas
MESC (3) 86 4 9
NESC (3) 64 8 27
Australia 87 4 8

MESC 85 4 10
NESC 73 6 20
Australia 84 3 13

cooks
MESC 91 4 5
NESC 77 5 16
Australia 86 4 9

MESC 84 5 11
NESC 82 4 14
Australia 82 3 15


Birthplace/birthliplace group Total Total (2)
 % N

All trades areas
MESC (3) 100 5,254
NESC (3) 100 6,962
Australia 100 354,826

MESC 100 18,024
NESC 100 12,260
Australia 100 1,089,785

cooks
MESC 100 450
NESC 100 613
Australia 100 13,718

MESC 100 618
NESC 100 792
Australia 100 26.361

Source: ABS, 2006 Census, customised dataset held by CPUR
Notes: (1) Total employed includes inadequately described, not
stated and not applicable
(2) Total includes labour force status not stated
(3) For an explanation of MESC and NESC see text p. 2.

There is clearly strong employer demand for MESC-born and Australia-born accountants. Around 80 per cent of these accountants, whether aged 20 to 29 or 30 to 64, were employed as managers or professionals. The strength of the job market for degree qualified accountants who were Australia-born is indicated by the finding that 68 per cent alone were employed as accountants.

This is not the case for the NESC group. Only 43 per cent of the 7,231 30 to 64-year-old NESC group were employed as managers or professionals and 25 per cent of the much larger 9,703-strong 20 to 29-year-old group. Just 22 per cent of 20 to 29-year-old accountants among the China-born group had found professional or managerial positions by 2006 and 21 per cent of the India-born group. Almost all of these China and India-born accountants would have been trained in Australia. If Australian training was an advantage they should have done better than their older, overseas-trained counterparts. But they did not. Those with accounting qualifications in the 30 to 64-year-old age group from China and India actually did a little better. Some 38 per cent of the China-born in this age group had found professional or managerial positions by 2006 and 44 per cent of the Indians.

THE TRADE SITUATION

There are relatively few recently-arrived migrants with Certificate III and IV level qualifications. (12) As Table 5 shows, in 2006 there were 42,589 persons born overseas who arrived in Australia between 2001 and 2006 and who possessed such qualifications. By contrast, there were 212,814 persons born overseas who arrived during the same period who held degree level qualifications (Table 3).

The country-of-origin make up of the Certificate III and IV migrants was also quite different from the degree-qualified group. The latter were predominantly drawn from NESC birthplaces. In the case of the certificate qualified group, only 45 per cent came from NESC birthplaces.

As Table 5 shows, the pattern of job outcomes for the Certificate III and IV level group is similar to that described above for the degree qualified group. The certificate group from MESC birthplaces do better in finding positions as technicians or trades workers or as managers or professionals than do their counterparts from NESC birthplaces. As with the degree qualified, the job outcomes for the older NESC group are better than for the younger group. There were 12,260 NESC-born persons aged 30 to 64 who reported that they held certificate level qualifications. Of these, 40 per cent held positions as managers, professionals, technicians or tradespersons as of 2006. By contrast, only 30 per cent of 6,962 certificate qualified persons from NESC birthplaces who were aged 20 to 29 held such positions.

The low inflow of 20 to 29-year-old NESC-born certificate group relative to their older counterparts is about to change. There has been a remarkable surge in enrolments in vocational education and training (VET) courses in Australia over the last few years, most of which has occurred in the hospitality field--with cooking being the dominant discipline. VET commencements for overseas students in the hospitality field increased from 10,782 in 2005 to 18,524 in 2006 to 30,492 in 2007. (13) As a consequence, the number of onshore Skilled-Independent visas issued to cooks (and to a lesser extent, hairdressers) will surge over the next few years. For this reason we have added data to Table 5 on the outcomes for overseas born persons with Certificate III and IV qualifications in cooking.

The numbers of trade qualified cooks who had arrived in Australia between 2001 and 2006 was relatively small, but may give an indication of what to expect when the projected avalanche of locally-trained cooks obtain permanent resident visas. So far, the trade-qualified cooks from both MESC and NESC countries are doing fairly well, with around half working as chefs or cooks. This good outcome partly reflects the serious shortage of cooks prepared to work under the wages and conditions that Australian employers offer, but which migrants may be prepared to accept, at least for a time. In addition, it is likely that cooks with limited English language skills do not face the same barriers to employment in cooking as do their university qualified counterparts with accounting, IT or engineering credentials when they seek professional positions.

JOB OUTCOMES AS MEASURED BY LSIA 3, WAVE 2

Table 6 provides data from the LSIA3, wave 2 survey conducted by DIAC. The LSIA responses were from migrants (principal applicants) who arrived in Australia or were visaed onshore in the period December 2004 to March 2005. The Table provides information on those who were surveyed as part of wave 2 which occurred roughly eighteen months after they arrived or were visaed. The census results detailed above, were for all those arriving in Australia between 2001 and 2006. In other respects, Table 6 matches the census findings detailed above. But it is limited to information on principal applicants in the key skilled migration visa subclasses where the migrant has indicated that he or she possesses degree-level qualifications.

Table 6: Occupation and labour force status of principal applicants
with bachelor degree or higher by major visa subclass, 2006 (per cent)

 Visa category Managers and Profs. Associate
 administrators. profs.
 and
 trades

Regional Sponsored Migration 7 69 15
Scheme (2) (119/857)

Employer nomination (2) 18 63 10
(121/856)

Skilled--Independent (136) 4 57 10

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 5 33 12
(138)

Skilled--Designated Area 1 28 9
Sponsored (139)

Skilled--Independent Overseas 1 47 10
Student (880) (3)

Accountants (880) 1 41 6

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 2 32 8
Overseas Student (881)

 Visa category Advanced Interm. Interm
 clerical clerical, productn
 and sales & and
 service service transport

Regional Sponsored Migration 1 5 1
Scheme (2) (119/857)

Employer nomination (2) 1 4 0
(121/856)

Skilled--Independent (136) 1 11 1

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 3 14 2
(138)

Skilled--Designated Area 3 22 8
Sponsored (139)

Skilled--Independent Overseas 4 20 1
Student (880) (3)

Accountants (880) 7 29 1

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 6 23 4
Overseas Student (881)

 Visa category Element Labourers Unempl.
 clerical, and Looking
 sale & related for work
 service

Regional Sponsored Migration 0 0 0
Scheme (2) (119/857)

Employer nomination (2) 0 0 1
(121/856)

Skilled--Independent (136) 4 2 2

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 9 9 3
(138)

Skilled--Designated Area 4 4 8
Sponsored (139)

Skilled--Independent Overseas 7 2 3
Student (880) (3)

Accountants (880) 6 1 3

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 11 3 1
Overseas Student (881)

 Visa category Not in Other Total
 workforce %
 (1)

Regional Sponsored Migration 1 0 100
Scheme (2) (119/857)

Employer nomination (2) 1 1 100
(121/856)

Skilled--Independent (136) 4 4 100

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 7 5 100
(138)

Skilled--Designated Area 3 100 116
Sponsored (139)

Skilled--Independent Overseas 1 4 100
Student (880) (3)

Accountants (880) 2 4 100

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 1 8 100
Overseas Student (881)

 Visa category Total
 N

Regional Sponsored Migration 97
Scheme (2) (119/857)

Employer nomination (2) 295
(121/856)

Skilled--Independent (136) 335

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 103
(138)

Skilled--Designated Area 116
Sponsored (139)

Skilled--Independent Overseas 1046
Student (880) (3)

Accountants (880) 275

Skilled--Australian-Sponsored 108
Overseas Student (881)

Source: DIAC, LSIA3 Survey, Wave 2
Note: (1) Includes home duties, retired or no longer working
(2) Onshore and offshore applicants combined
(3) Includes Accountants (880)

The job outcomes for visa categories 136 and 880 are better than those drawn from the census for all degree qualified migrants aged 30 to 64 and 20 to 29 which we have used as a rough proxy for these two skilled visa categories. These better results are to be expected given that a minority of those included in the census data entered Australia as accompanying family members or as sponsored family members.

It will no doubt remain a controversial matter as to how far these better results reflect a response bias deriving from the manner in which the LSIA respondents were selected. As noted earlier, LSIA 3 wave 2 respondents are self-selected by their willingness to respond to the DIAC survey and by the fact that their addresses could be found.

In some respects, the LSIA results are consistent with those of the census. They show that the skilled migrants drawn from overseas via visa category 136 (who tend to be older) are doing better than migrants from the onshore former student visa categories (880 and 881). Some 61 per cent of the 136 category migrants were employed in professional or managerial positions. In the case of the 880 category, according to the LSIA data, less than half (48 per cent) had obtained professional or managerial positions by 2006 and only 34 per cent of the smaller 881 visa category (who include former overseas students who gain points concessions through being sponsored by relatives in Australia).

Table 6 also includes data on the outcomes for those who obtained 880 visas whose nominated occupation was accounting. As noted earlier, accounting is currently the largest occupation category under the onshore program. Only 42 per cent of the accountants in this group who responded to the LSIA 3 wave 2 survey had obtained professional or managerial positions by 2006.

The LSIA data provide a useful supplement to the census in that they allow us to identify outcomes for the smaller visa categories. It is significant that the two categories listed where employers play a role in providing a predetermined job for the incoming migrant show the best results. These visa categories are the employer nomination and Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) categories.

The LSIA provides information on the outcomes for principal applicants sponsored on a concessional basis by relatives resident in Australia. In the case of Skilled-Australian-Sponsored visa which is points tested (though with bonus points for sponsorship) only 38 per cent of those with degree qualifications were employed at the professional or managerial level by 2006. The situation was worse for the Skilled Designated Area Sponsored visa subclass, discussed on page 3 above. Only 29 per cent of principal applicants in this category with degree qualifications had found professional or managerial positions by 2006.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The current record high migration program is justified to the electorate by the assumption that it is delivering skills in short supply across Australia. For the most part the skilled program is recruiting professionals with occupations designated as in short supply (as indicated by their inclusion on the MODL). The very high number of accountants currently gaining permanent residence visas is an indication that this priority is shaping the occupational mix of those selected.

The problem is that many of these skilled migrants are not gaining professional or managerial employment. Those drawn from MESC countries are very successful in doing so, however less than half of those drawn from NESC countries are achieving this outcome. Within the latter group those achieving permanent residence via the onshore former overseas student visa categories are the least successful. This is a serious matter because the share of the overall skilled program that this component comprises has been increasing.

The main implication of these findings is that there is no justification for an 'across the board' increase in the migration intake. If the objective is to fill skilled vacancies, any expansion should be limited to the visa categories where employers are involved in locating work for the intending migrant. The employer nomination and RSMS visa categories meet this criterion. The skilltested offshore and onshore categories to varying degrees do not. The government should discontinue the worst performing of these visa categories. The state-specific Skill Designated Area Sponsored category (139) should be first go. Not only does it lack any targeting to skill vacancies, it exacerbates the problem skilled migration is intended to resolve. This is because this visa category adds thousands of residents each year to Melbourne, thereby adding to the city building tasks the city is struggling with and to the demands for scarce construction workers.

The Labor government would be better advised to focus on increasing domestic training. The census results leave little doubt that employers are snapping up Australian raised and locally trained professionals. Admittedly increased domestic training is a medium term strategy. In the mean time the government should turn its attention to the thousands of recently arrived NESC professionals who are unable to gain professional employment. They are now part of the Australian community and, with the appropriate bridging courses, many could quickly put their training to use. The merit of the census results is that they leave no doubt about the huge scale of this underutilisation. There will be controversy over which visa stream is contributing most to the problem. But the aggregate data show that there are thousands of recently arrived degree-qualified persons who cannot gain professional employment in Australia.

Table 2 showed that only 28 per cent of the 90,418 NESC-born 20 to 29-year-old degree-qualified persons who arrived in Australia between 2001 and 2006 were employed in professional or managerial positions. Similarly, only 36 per cent of their 80,931 counterparts aged 30 to 64 had found such employment.

A core weakness with the current skilled migration framework is its prioritisation of former overseas students. Before there is any further expansion in the program the reasons for their poor outcomes need to be understood. To its credit, the former Coalition government introduced some significant reforms to this program as of September 2007. These new rules stipulate a higher minimum standard of English and, in the case of the former overseas students, add the requirement that they gain a year's experience in their nominated occupation in Australia or complete a professional year in their field before they are eligible to apply for permanent residence. These reforms may improve the professional job prospects of these former overseas students. But, this is by no means assured. It will take some time to establish whether these new requirements translate to improved job market outcomes.

IS AUSTRALIAN TRAINING A DISADVANTAGE?

We advanced the heretical thought earlier that Australian training may actually disadvantage migrants in the Australian job market. This flows from the finding that the older cohort of NESC-born professionals, most of whom would have been trained offshore, are doing better than the younger, Australian-trained group. However, there is another key difference between the two groups of NESC-born migrants. This is that the older group would almost always have had some experience in their nominated occupation, because this is a condition of eligibility for the skilled-independent visa category. By contrast the younger group, having been trained in Australia, would normally not have had work experience in the field that they gained their Australian qualifications in.

But lack of job experience does not seem to be a sufficient explanation for the relatively poor labour market outcome for the younger group. If this was the case, how are we to explain the excellent occupational outcomes of the 20 to 29-year-old Australia-born cohort reported earlier?

This leads to a further puzzle. Both the Australia-born and NESC-born cohorts of 20 to 29-year-olds have graduated with qualifications from Australian universities. In the case of accounting, all would have completed courses covering the curriculum required by the Australian professional accounting bodies--the CPA, (14) the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the National Institute of Accountants. These bodies also assess the credentials of all those with accounting qualifications who wish to apply for permanent residence under the skilled-migration program, whether they apply offshore or onshore. Similar arrangements apply for the other professions. In these circumstances, how is it that thousands of former overseas students trained in Australia are not finding professional or managerial jobs?

One possibility is discrimination. We have no way of invalidating this possibility. There is ample anecdotal evidence that employers are reluctant to employ NESC-born professionals. But this reluctance does not seem to be a product of prejudice directed at their birthplace or culture. NESC-born accountants, for example, are regarded as keen workers and as technically capable of doing much of the work required. Rather, the concern is that they lack the English communication skills needed in contemporary professional work.

Until recently, no English test was required of applicants for permanent residence who were former overseas students and were applying onshore. This was because DIAC assumed that, having studied in Australia, they would have achieved an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) level 6, or 'competent English' in DIAC's terms. It was not until 2005-06 that DIAC required former overseas students to undertake a formal IELTS test as part of their permanent residence visa application. The results of this testing for applicants who succeeded in getting their permanent resident skilled visa in 2005-06 showed that about a third fell short of the level 6 'competent' standard. This third only reached the minimum English standard of IELTS 5 or 5.5, which DIAC labels as 'vocational English'.(15) Vocational English is best described as rudimentary, well short of what is required for university studies or professional practice in Australia. Competent English is much better. Persons at this level can manage normal commercial and social relationships. They have a better base for university studies but, unless their English improves, will still fall short of the level of English communication skills normally expected of university students or professionals in Australia.

In these circumstances, it may be argued that it is not the quality of the training at university level that is to blame, but rather the limited communication skills of the students taking the courses. Nevertheless, the universities cannot evade some responsibility. As the accompanying article in this issue of People and Place by Tony Burch indicates, where overseas students cluster in campuses or courses customised to meet these students' needs, the teaching has to adjust to their communication capacity.

Universities could insist that overseas students take remedial communication courses sufficient to achieve professional standards before allowing them to complete their studies. This is a demanding option, since it may imply a longer period of study and, in a competitive market for students, may undermine enrolments in any university that does insist on the possession of professional English standards on graduation. Alternatively, universities could refuse to enrol students whose English is inadequate for their studies. Some universities have tightened their standards recently, but there is no requirement for them to do so, nor any pressure from DEEWR for such action.

When overseas students come direct to Australia's universities from overseas, they have to reach the IELTS 6 standard before DIAC will issue a higher education visa. But up to half of the intake of overseas students enter universities via various non-university pathway programs conducted while they are in Australia, the entry to which does not require meeting the IELTS 6 standard. Not surprisingly, the students with the weakest language skills dominate the ranks of those who enter universities via these pathways. Universities could insist on certain English standards before entry but, with a few exceptions, do not.

The then Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training and representatives from universities and vocational colleges interested in overseas student education met in August 2007 to discuss this issue. In the final report from this meeting, it was declared that those present did not support the imposition of a compulsory English test before students began their courses. The report declared: There is no support to limit the number and variety of Australian pathway programs leading to higher level studies and very little support for a move to a single, universal English entry standard. The issues are widely seen as being too complex to be amenable to a single, simplistic solution. (16)

The analysis in this paper indicates that a number of unresolved issues about the operation of key components of the skilled migration program remain. We need to resolve them before further expansion of the program can be justified.

References

(1) B. Birrell, E. Healy and T.F. Smith, 'Labor's education and training strategy: building on false assumptions?', People and Place, vol. 16, no 1, March 2008

(2) Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), Immigration Update, 2006-07

(3) Unpublished data drawn from DIAC immigration arrivals and departures and visa issued files

(4) See for example, B. Birrell and L. Hawthorne, Immigrants and the Professions in Australia, Centre for Population and Urban Research, Monash University, 1997; L. Hawthorne, Labour Market Barriers for Immigrant Engineers in Australia, Bureau of Immigration and Population Research, 1994.

(5) B. Birrell, L. Hawthorne and S. Richardson, Evaluation of the General Skilled Migration Categories, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Canberra, 2006, pp. 24-25

(6) B. Birrell, E. Healy and B. Kinnaird, 'Cooks galore and hairdressers aplenty', People and Place, vol. 15, no. 1, March 2007

(7) B. Birrell, The Changing Face of the Accounting Profession in Australia, CPA Australia, 2006, p. 5

(8) ibid., pp. 4-6

(9) K. Watty, 'Quality in accounting education and low English standards among overseas students: is there a link?', People and Place, vol. 15, no. 1, 2007, pp. 26-27; B. Jackling 'The lure of permanent residency and the aspirations and expectations of international students studying accounting in Australia', People and Place, vol. 15, no. 3, 2007, pp. 37-39

(10) Birrell et al., 2006, op cit., p. 50

(11) There is no systematic evidence available on this issue. However the data provided on settler arrivals by occupation and visa subclass for 2003-04 provide one source of such evidence. See B. Birrell, V. Rapson and T. F. Smith, Immigration in a Time of Domestic Skilled Shortages: Skilled Movements in 2003-04, DIAC, 2005, p. 16.

(12) Certificates III and IV are offered by institutions providing technical and further education in Australia (TAFEs). They replace the former categories of trade certificates. Certificates I and II are relatively new qualifications which recognise basic vocational skills http://www.aqf.edu.au/cert.htm.

(13) Australian Education International, unpublished statistics, 2008

(14) CPA is the name of the body formerly called the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants

(15) Australian Education International, 2008, op. cit., p. 59

(16) Australian Education International, Final Report, Outcomes from a National Symposium: English Language competence of International Students, August 2007, November 2007, p. 9

Skill shortages have prompted the Australian government to double the skilled migration program since 2001-02. This article examines the employment outcomes for all skilled migrants who arrived in Australia between 2001 and 2006. Those from Main English Speaking Countries (MESC) are successfully finding professional or managerial jobs consistent with their qualifications. However, only a minority of those from non-English-speaking countries (NESC) have achieved a similar outcome. This is a serious matter because the majority of Australia's skilled migrants are being drawn from NESC birthplaces. The most rapidly growing component of this NESC group, former overseas students who have studied in Australia, are having the least success in finding professional employment.