New SOL List Background News
 

This article appeared in "The Weekend Australian" with a sample draft list via Skills Australia which was with print article only.

The future mix of skilled local workers and immigrants will reshape the nation WITHOUT a better qualified workforce, Australia will have to resort to the quick fix of much higher numbers of skilled migrants in the years ahead.

Under one scenario outlined in a report handed recently to the Rudd government, the skills deficit would amount to 250,000 job positions a year in the next five years alone.

In the next 15 years, a staggering 9.2 million job openings have been forecast, with just more than half driven by economic growth and the rest by the ageing population.

Australia would have no choice but to import skilled migrants on a vast scale to do the work that the domestic population is unable or unwilling to do.

The other related issue is that even more so Australians are not choosing (to pay higher fees) to study and train in many skill shortage occupations with e.g. enrolments in Victorian TAFEs down.....while international are plummeting....