Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Are you a tradesperson, engineer or doctor? Check out: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...55E601,00.html

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Just read that, seems a bit strange just as the economy slows :confused: Or are the positions the ones that need filling in rural/remote areas if so the plan would be justified.

Another contradiction, australia has lost almost a million of its workforce to overseas, yet it plans to bring in laws to take away workers rights, how then does it plan to entice them back.

Out of interest, how many people does OZ have on unemployment benefits, I thought it was fairly high, anyone got the current figures?

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

On the news the other day it said the unemployement rate was 5%.

So if someone can convert that into real numbers.....

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Yes saw that, interesting bit is tho, a person employed for one hour casual is counted as employed :confused: It would be interesting to find out how many are on unemployment benefit because then surely they would have to be doing less than X hours.

I really wonder about all this shortage, my previous post, before this thread even come up, was helping someone on electrical apprenticeship, my son got one, 300 applied and almost double that supposidly applied for the next intake. Like a few, and the political opposition have poined out, the housing market cooled, tradesman shortage must be based on some very old figures. Can see docs etc needed in rural areas tho given the figures recently printed on waiting lists for surgery here :eek:

Interesting discussion anyway.

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Governments are notoriously out of touch with what business needs. When you start reading these things it's usually too late. For instance, UK & Aus looked to recruit IT people just as the IT boom ended with the result that there were no jobs when they arrived. If the Oz housing market slumps (which is partly happening already), the demand for those tradesmen is going to disappear. On the other hand the global demand for minerals/energy looks unlikely to abate, so the mining/energy industry will continue to need more workers. Interesting times ahead for some people.

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Storini,

I think the %10 who work abroad is most interesting! :confused:

My wife has a few Oz ferends who view life in the UK as good for generating a nice nest egg for when they go back.

Bye
Mark

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Too right, I saw it coming and got my IT MODL application in days before I got made redundant in the UK and the .net bust happened.

Soon after my application was successfully fast tracked they took IT off MODL

Still managed to get a job in Aus though.

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Feb 2002
The Bureau of Statistics says that in February there were 87,500 job vacancies and 652,500 unemployed. That amounts to 7.5 people out of work for every job vacancy.


April 2005
The ABS estimated that 540,900 people were unemployed in Australia – a rate of 5.1 per cent
Total job vacancies in May 2005 were 151,000, an increase of 4.6% from February.
That amounts to 3.6 people out of work for every job vacancy.

http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/[email protected]?OpenDocument

In those three years, unemployment has reduced from 652,500 to 540,900
and
Job Vacancies have increased from 87,500 to 151,000

Longterm unemployment is a major problem in Australia. In February 2005, 19 per cent of unemployed people had been without work for a year or more; of this group, 55 per cent had been unemployed for over two years (ABS
Cat.no.6105.0, table 3.2).

Reasons for Long Term Unemployment vary.
Some want to work.
Some don't want to work.
Getting these figures is difficult, but the 2nd group is quite large.

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Does anyone know where the Expo will be and when.


The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs will next month begin a foray into the international jobs marketplace, with officials hold a series of expos in London, Berlin, Chennai and Amsterdam to spruik Australia's culture and lifestyle to foreign workers.

I know there is one in October but will this be a different one???????? :beer: :eek: :eek: :scared:

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

There are those who are better off not working due to childcare costs, those on disability benefits and other hidden stats that hide the true figure. Most governments do this. There is also the benefits trap whereby people are better off on the dole than getting a job down kmart.

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

When these initiatives start, I am sometimes inclined to be a bit suspicious: cui bono, so to speak? The Oz Govt is responding to pressure generated by business in the main. The latter claim difficulty in finding appropriately skilled labour, in the places they want, at the salaries they want to pay. The last of these constraints is the one you usually don't hear about. When a worker's labour is in short supply, in a tight labour market, the balance of power moves to him rather than the employer.

To the present Oz govt, like the US one, such a change is anathema, and all necessary measures will be taken to prevent it. In fact, under direction of IT industry lobbyists, the US govt has used its power over the H-1B visa to permit the importation of large numbers of low-paid foreign workers: the effect is to systematically dismantle the bargaining power of its previously well-paid IT workforce, q.v. http://www.computerworld.com/careert...,92150,00.html ,an example of the so-called "hollowing-out" of the American middle class.

Apologies if this sounds like "Markism for Beginners", as I am far from being one, but things aren't always what they appear. ;)

It's also probably fair to say that it's a question of perspective. For example, take the case of the fabled "Polish Plumber" who allegedly is now coming into the UK and doing good quality work for 1/2 the cost of a "rip-off" UK plumber: to a hard-pressed housewife with a plumbing problem, she would see this change as wonderful news...

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

The fear is that temporary labour shortages will "ignite" wage inflation - currently about 4% / year. There are vivid memories of it's effect 30+ years ago.

The useful thing about guest workers is that they tend to move on, or are moved on, when no longer needed.

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Hi all

I can't vouch for the Eastern States but WA is booming. There are currently, or in the near future, 80 billion dollars worth of projects happening in the resources sector. And that in a state of about 2 million people.

I would think that a quarter of the new skilled migrants are for WA, if not more.

I think that something to take into consideration with all Oz gov figures is that they are skewed because they include the Aboriginal population. I think they make up about 5% of the population and very few of them work. (If that dosn't get some comments nothing will.)
This dosn't just apply to job figures but prison numbers, child abuse (both physical and sexual), sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol problems.... The list goes on.

Keel

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

The swiss are masters of this tactic.

A :)

Re: Oz: Global hunt for 20,000 workers
 

Mate of mine, a 47 year old civil engineer has been offered a 4 year working visa, working on contract in Perth, A$85 an hour.