The Federal Government’s immigration policy is increasingly out of sync with the needs of the country, with Australians and immigrants vying for local jobs, according to new research released by the Monash University.

 

The recent report compiled by Monash’s Centre for Urban Population Research (CPUR) argues that Australia’s immigration intake is too high, and is leading to higher unemployment conditions that would normally be expected.

 

Australia has been in the grip of a boom mentality over the last decade,” CPUR’s lead researcher Dr Bob Birrell said.

"In such booms, government and business enterprises seem to lose the capacity to put claims of economic growth to a reality test – claims such as those from the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, which say demand for workers will increase."

 

The report argues that Australia’s immigration policy has been locked in this boom mentality, with the permanent migration program for 2012-13 set at a record high figure of 210,000.

 

The immigration program is set on full throttle, whereas the net growth of the employed workforce in Australia has slowed to a crawl,” Dr Birrell said.



“The net growth in the employed workforce in Australia was just 58,000 between the 2011 and 2012 August quarters. Yet, in the past year, at least 100,000 migrants who arrived found employment in Australia.”


The report shows that due to the current immigration policies, domestic job aspirants are being crowded out, particularly young people seeking to enter the workforce. Australian-born youth unemployment has increased and, as of August 2012, there were 666,830 unemployment benefit recipients, up from 626,969 in August 2012.


“The most serious implication of migration for domestic workers is the huge presence of migrants on temporary visas in metropolitan lower-skilled labour markets,” Dr Birrell said.


“Though allegedly here for various educational, holiday and cultural exchange purposes, large numbers are primarily in Australia to work.”

 

The full report can be found here