The Government Has Changed Immigration Requirements for Skilled Labour - Coursework Example

Buy skill AND skill up” Introduction The “Letter to the Editor” is frantically sending the message that Queensland is seriously in need of skilled workers. Arguing that the economic boom in Queensland that is fuelled by mining industry is expectedly not going to last long, the owner of the medium-sized manufacturing company communicates his/her need for skilled workers – welders, trades people, electricians, and technicians – NOW! Otherwise, his/her company cannot capitalize on the present economic growth in the region. In the letter, the businessman briefly touches on two possibilities of dealing with the shortage of skilled workers. He/she is emphatically in opposition against the plan of the government to skill up the country’s present pool of workers. According to him, it would not solve the problem of shortage of skilled workers while it would need major commitment of funds by federal and state governments. As he/she suggested, bringing in skilled workers from outside of Australia is going to work more effectively. He/she is, of course, not blind to the problems that go with his proposal – such as that in the past skilled workers were confined just in the metropolitan centers, the foreign workers particularly those from the Southeast Asia and Oceania had been exploited against by their Australian employers, and that there is in Australia a movement against multiculturalism (resulting to racial discrimination) to the detriment of the foreign workers who are integrating themselves into the Australian society. However, the letter-writer posits that, when foreign skilled workers are brought in, business would move on. At the outset, let it be clear that the position of the businessman is simplistic and, hence, not completely tenable. It is because he/she thinks that buying skill and skilling up are two disconnected choices or alternatives insofar as improvement of human capital is concerned; and, so, he/she can opt for one OR the other. But, without preempting the later presentation, the way to improve the quality of any organization’s – or any nation’s – human capital would include bringing in new blood AND improving what is already at hand. Equally, the businessman’s idea is one-dimensional in the sense that he seems to forget that government makes decision not in a vacuum, but within particular contexts. The whole picture Skill is a measure of a laborer’s expertise and capacity to carry out pre-determined results with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skilled workers – such as the masons, brewers, carpenters, welders, blacksmiths, technicians, bakers, coopers, printers, electricians, among others – are those who are generally more trained, higher paid, and given more responsibilities than their unskilled counterparts. As stated in the letter, the relative demand of skilled labor in the rural area of Queensland is occasioned by the current economic boost resulting from the strong mining activities in the area. Such a condition requires human capital. At the same time, the relative supply of skilled worker in the region is determined by the factor of immigration – at least, insofar as it’s seen by the letter-writer. And, here lies this paper’s initial opposition to the businessman’s letter. The issue is not as simplistic as he/she wants to portray. The effort of the Australian government (see Rudd, et al. 2007) to skill up the nation’s existing human capital is in line with Dela Viesca’s (1999) exposition that skilled workers may be had through education and experience that workers acquire in the workplace. Education is prerequisite for skill development, while learning by doing – or experience accumulated in the workplace – is a by-product of capital accumulation. Accordingly, in the formation of human capital, there’s a need to fuse the private knowledge (belonging to the individual through education) and the spillovers (reverting to society) that expands the available knowledge base. Dela Viesca was actually quoting the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Gary Becker (2008), who wrote that education and training – among others – are important investments in human capital. And, Becker meant formal education in colleges and universities and also trainings outside schools, especially on the job. The importance of training consists in the fact that even tertiary education graduates are not actually fully prepared for the labor market when they leave the portals of their schools, and must be fitted into their jobs through formal and informal training programs. Complementing – and not opposing -- Dela Viesca and Becker is Rouda & Kusy (1995) who were very emphatic in writing that education and training – that is, the acquisition of knowledge, development of skills and competence, and adoption of behavior to improve one’s performance in current job – is partly and certainly not always the key to improve the development of any organization through the optimization of the efficiency and performance of its human resources. For, aside from training, there are still other solutions that may be taken such as organizational development, career development, or combination of these, and/or other strategies. As if Amig (2001) is supplying what the other strategy is, he held that it is similarly important to concomitantly improve the organization’s recruitment process. He maintained in his article that the key to improve human capital is to hire the right employee. And, to effect this, some basic steps should be taken – e.g., determination of vacancy rate, establishment of turnover rate, study of employee retention issues and comparison of compensation to market rates. Should an organization then address the issue of shortage of skilled workers, a step to take is not to choose either skilling up the existing pool of workers OR bringing or buying in newcomers. As the above-mentioned writes up hold, educating and training the present AND bringing in new blood – as it were – are two sides of a singular coin. One simply cannot choose any of the two; one has to settle with both steps, as one goes for the single item called improving human capital. A “bigger” whole picture Further, the issue that in evoked by the Letter to the Editor needs to be understood in its proper context(s). Actually, Australia is in need of more or less one hundred thousand (100,000) to two hundred thousand (200,000) skilled workers every year (Livein-Australia.com 2009). But the actual number of skilled immigrants who be successfully getting into the country is determined by a number of factors. Firstly, opting not to provide just a ‘band-aid solution’ to the shortage of skills in the country, the Australian government always holds having a skilled a diverse workforce is, and will forever continue to be a critical factor in the nation’s ongoing economic development (cf. Smith 2009). As it is set to have ballooning ageing population, Australia anticipates that over the period between 2010 and 2020 more local workers are going to retire than join the country’s workforce. Simply put, Australia is in fact facing the problem of having a diminishing native-born labor force for its growing economy (Jackel 2009). But even with such prospect, the Australian government is looking not for short- or medium-term solutions, but for long-term way out. And, one such measure is to regulate – and not restrict! – the immigration of skilled workers to ensure that the net labor force growth of the country is being sufficiently met (Jackel 2009). Principally, the 457 visa program that aims to ameliorate skill shortages in the country has been progressively re-engineered (see Jackel 2009) to ensure protection of temporary foreign workers from exploitation, imposition of minimum salary levels for expatriate workers to deter employers from recruiting low-paid foreign workers to replace Australia workers (who would otherwise command higher pay) (see also Livein-Australia.com 2006), and that sponsors meet their sponsorship obligations (Jackel 2009). And, these steps are said to be working – at least on the macro level. In fact, if there is one thing that could have possibly made Australia withstand the worst of the global financial crisis, it would have been its over-all stability in terms of its human capital. The truth of the matter is that, if one seriously delves into the current migration program of Australia, one finds that it is even encouraging employers to permanently sponsor workers in occupations with skill shortages that cannot be filled in by local laborers. Too, there is the factor that is the global financial crisis that is said to have prompted the Australian political leaders to bat for skilling up of Australian labor pool. And this is Australia’s own style of protectionism as the entire globe passed through an experience of economic crunch. Obviously, there is the political need by Australian government to prioritize the assignment of available jobs for Australians and Australian residents (Livein-Australia.com 2009). In the concrete, the government has decided to remove occupations in the tourism, clerical and agricultural industries from the 457 visa program (see Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2009) by deleting their numbers from the country’s budget year of 2009/2010 and maybe of 2010/2011. The government also imposed a higher level of ability in English language (Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2009) justifying that it is meant to ensure the ready integration by the migrant skilled workers into Australian society in general and into their workplaces in particular (see Livein-Australia.com 2009). Be that as it may, though, over-all, the recent developments in the immigration program of Australia is still positive in the sense that these aim for better targeted and demand-driven outcome to meet identified skills gaps in a tighter labor market and to safeguard Australian jobs (Jackel 2009). A research study initiated by Australian government’s Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics (2006) pointed out that, while it is true that to some regions of the country there is skill shortage, it is domestic – and not international – migration that may be an answer (pp. 52). Accordingly, bringing in foreign migrants should only be considered to address industry-wide skill shortages which are accounted for by a gamut of reasons such as work conditions (e.g., flexible working hours and management practices), poor perception of the industry and a lack of appropriate training (pp. 46). Conclusion Finally, this paper maintains its criticism of the frantic businessman’s Letter to the Editor proposing that letting in or bringing in skilled foreign workers would solve his/her woes as he/she tried to keep up with the demands of Queensland’s economic boom. It runs counter to management theory and practice to select between bringing in new blood into an organization and training the current pool of workers to upgrade their skills. In improving the quality of human capital, any organization – and any nation, for that matter – would need to take on these dual approaches of buying in and skilling up the workforce. It is equally significant to point out that the government’s decision to prefer skilling up its own people needs to be understood in its context. As shown in the paper, Australian government has not altogether abandoned its plan to attract skilled foreign workers. So far, it has only regulated its visa processes. And, it is so for valid reasons! 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Department of Immigration and Citizenship. 2009. Visa, immigration and refugees. [Online]. Available at: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/ [Accessed 14 December 2009]. Jockel, M., 457 visas, skill shortages and worker protection. Allbusiness.com, [Online] 1 June. Available at: http://www.allbusiness.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-conditions-growth/12706421-1.html [Accessed on 14 December 2009]. Livein-Australia.com. 2006. New minimum wage for overseas workers. [Online]. Available at: http://www.livingin-australia.com/new-minimum-wage-for-overseas-workers/ [Accessed 14 December 2009]. Livein-Australia.com. 2009. Put up with Britain? or migrate to OZ? [Online]. Available at: http://www.liveinaustralia.com/blog/?p=139 [Accessed 14 December 2009]. Rouda, R.H. & Kusy, M., 1995. Beyond training: a perspective on improving organizations and people. Tappi Journal, [Online]. Available at: http://www.unitar.org/hiroshima/sites/default/files/22.AF09.OW_.Background_reading_Part1.pdf [Accessed 15 December 2009]. Rudd, K. et al., 2007. Skilling Australia for the future: election 2007 policy document. Available at: http://www.mskills.com.au/DownloadManager/Downloads/ALP%20Skills%20policy.pdf [Accessed 14 December 2009]. Smith, A., 2009. Australia needs more skilled workers, no more uni graduates. [Online]. Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/australia-needs-skilled-workers-not-more-uni-graduates-20091110-i7i7.html [Accessed 14 December 2009]. Read More