According to new claims there are over 140,000 skilled workers waiting to enter Australia, but they are kept waiting due to an admin backlog.
This news has led to Australian businessmen lambasting the government, as skilled foreign workers are currently of great use to Australian businesses. In fact, leading businessmen feel that skilled expats are vital for Australia to ensure safe passage through the economic crisis.
Employers have said that there is a shortage of workers in a number of important sectors including construction, healthcare and engineering. It is feared that a prolonged shortage will lead to wage inflation.
Graham Kraehe, director of the Reserve Bank of Australia, told The Australian newspaper: ”I think skills shortages are a major problem and if we don’t increase the amount of skilled migration then we are going to have some real pressure on wages.
He added that:“Two things are critical: one is some measures to improve productivity, which has been very poor in the last three or four years and declining; and the second is to increase the skilled immigration quotas so we can address what is already a shortage and something that is putting pressure on project costs and more broadly will put pressure on wages costs in the community.”