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June 29, 2009
Temporary worker schemes are a fact of life. They exist around the world including Australia with its 457 visa system and they indicate a shift in international migration from settlement migration to temporary migration. Globally, the flows of temporary labour have been increasing.
Peter Mares in an article entitled The Permanent-shift-to-temporary-migration over at Inside Story says that there has been a transformational shift in Australian migration policy.
What was initially intended as a way of plugging temporary skills gaps has become a permanent feature of the Australian labour market. Last financial year, for the first time, the number of visas issued to temporary foreign workers under the 457 scheme outstripped the number of visas granted to permanent skilled migrants. There is every possibility that this will happen again: although the permanent skilled intake is capped, the employer-driven 457 visa scheme is not.
The market for 457 visas was expected to rise and fall in line with economic needs, and indeed there has been a sharp fall in new applications since the onset of the global recession. But when growth returns to the economy numbers will rapidly go up again. Employers are likely to bring in temporary workers far more swiftly than the government lifts its annual quota for permanent migrants.The fundamental shift from permanent to temporary migration is a shift away from the migration pattern in the the twentieth century when migrants came by sea and stayed for good.
Mare points out that Australia is moving towards a “two step” migration program, in which permanent settlement is preceded by a period of temporary residence as either a migrant worker or an international student. This is a “try before you buy” system of migration. Are 457 visas are being abused as source of cheap labor, rather than as a means to overcome skills shortages? Mares says:
The concern swirling around the 457 visa program is not about Irish nurses or English doctors pushing down wages and taking jobs in Australian hospitals; the focus is on workers from “developing countries” like China, India and the Philippines. Their “temporary” status is used to raise questions about the legitimacy of their presence in the Australian workforce...at one level the union concerns are accurate: the 457 scheme does risk undermining hard won conditions in Australian workplaces because temporary workers, particularly blue collar workers from non-English speaking backgrounds, are unable or unwilling to stand up for their rights.
He asks: how do we respond to this problem? Should we end the scheme or change its operation? Mares explores the latter option.
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I think we need a lot more hard evidence about the nature and extent of the problem, if there is one, before deciding if a response is necessary. 457 visas are a great way to improve our engagement with our region and IMHO should be extended to include the guest worker schemes that some Pacific Island leaders wanted and Howard rejected.
Hard won wages and conditions are being undermined for reasons that go way beyond any impact temporary workers might be having on the labour market.