Migrant accountants--high numbers, poor outcomes.(Report)

The current Minister for Immigration, Senator Evans has said: 'The Prime Minister has made it clear, as I have, that the migration program needs to be sensitive to the economic needs and employment prospects of the country'. (1) The Minister has also stated that these needs are 'linked to the state of the economy and the demand for labour. A large part of the program--I think about 70 per cent currently--is in the skilled migration area, bringing people in to fill labour and skills shortages in this country'. (2) As Senator Evans has implied, in the present economic circumstances, it makes no sense to be running a record high skilled migration program if it is not meeting this objective.

This article focuses on accountants. They constitute by far the largest single occupation group within the current skilled-migration program. However, their record in obtaining employment as accountants, despite severe shortages in the profession, has been abysmal, even in the boom times to mid-2008. This experience indicates the potential for pruning the current program without damage to its core objective of filling skill shortages.

There is a case for a modest skilled-immigration program, even with a slow down in skilled employment. The Rudd Labor government has inherited a situation where some skills remain in severe short supply because of the preceding Coalition Government's wilful neglect of domestic training, especially in the higher education sector.

The best way that the Labor Government can link migration to these shortages is to involve employers in the recruitment process. Employers know where there are genuine skill shortages. If they are prepared to sponsor a skilled migrant to a position within their organisation under the temporary-or permanent-entry migration visa subclasses, this is prima facie evidence of a skill shortage. The only reservation here is that evidence is mounting that some employers are using the employer nomination visa subclasses as a means to hire staff at wages and conditions below those prevailing in the Australian market place. (3) Thus if the focus of the skilled migration program is to be on employer nomination the program needs to be monitored carefully to ensure that it is not being exploited in this fashion.

The previous Coalition Government made employer sponsorship a priority within its permanent entry skilled program. A primary aim of the Coalition Government, according to the Minister for Immigration in 2005 (Amanda Vanstone) was 'to increase the number of skilled migrants entering under the employer sponsored categories, as it is employers who are best placed to identify the skilled migrants we need'. (4) The Government also encouraged employer use of the uncapped long-stay temporary-entry business subclass (the 457 visa). The current Labor Government has endorsed these priorities.

Despite the priority given to employer nominations they remain a relatively small component of the permanent entry skilled program. In 2007--08 there were 8,762 principal applicants visaed under the employer nomination visa category, of whom 1,887 were sponsored by regional employers. Though this is an increase on earlier years, in 2007--08 there were far more principal applicants visaed under the points-tested General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa categories, including 14,866 visaed under the offshore Skilled Independent category and another 17,552 principal applicants visaed under the former overseas student skilled categories. (5)

NUMBERS OF MIGRANT ACCOUNTANTS