Businesses may face battle to woo skilled migrants – Sydney Morning Herald

Hopes local companies will fill their shortages of skilled workers with migrants could be stymied by the tight global jobs market with new research showing Australian businesses face a tough fight against international competitors.

Data compiled by online jobs site business Indeed suggests it may not be easy to entice skilled migrants away from their home markets or prevent them going to other nations offering larger paypackets.

The international border is due to open on Wednesday for skilled migrants and international students in a development the business community is hoping will ease wage pressures and fix worker shortages across a growing number of industries.

International student arrivals are down 99.7 per cent on their pre-COVID levels while skilled visas were down 44 per cent through 2020-21 on the previous year. Those granted visas were almost exclusively in the country before the international border was shut early last year.

Indeed senior economist Callam Pickering said while there were some early signs of a lift in interest from prospective skilled migrants, the market was very different to the pre-virus world.

“The challenge for Australia will be attracting highly skilled workers in a tight and globally competitive labour market,” he said.

“Jobs in many economies, including those from places where Australia traditionally attracts talent, are now tighter than before the pandemic. Australian businesses will need to be proactive in attracting overseas talent if they are to compete successfully against other countries.”

Overseas jobseekers accounted for 6.4 per cent of the clicks on Australian job postings between January and October this year, up from 5.7 per cent in 2020 but still short of the 6.7 per cent rate recorded in 2019.

Clicks have fallen most for positions in high education occupations such as banking and finance, engineering, information design, scientific research and mathematics.