Page 18 - IB November 2019

Work

FEW NON-SEASONAL WORK

OPPORTUNITIES IN AUSTRALIA FOR

THE PACIFIC

By Richard Curtain
At each skill level, the New Zealand Essential Skills visas approved for Pacific citizens
Australia’s Pacific Step Up, announced in September 2017, has made much of are much higher. The ratios of New Zealand to Australian visas at the different skill
providing more access to work opportunities in Australia. The Foreign Policy White levels range from 2 to 1 for Skill Level 1 occupations to 87 to 1 for Skill Level 5
paper noted, ‘Australia will work to improve opportunities for growth and jobs and occupations.
to strengthen the economic resilience of the region by increasing opportunities for
labour mobility to satisfy unmet demand in our labour market’. What are the top occupations for Pacific migrants? For New Zealand, at the trades
level, the top occupations are: carpenter (141) and carpenter and joiner (33), air con-
The Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) in Stage 3 has a renewed ditioning and refrigeration mechanic (51), hairdresser (42), diesel motor mechanic
mandate to promote labour mobility to Australia. The Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) (39), general motor mechanic (39), fitter-welder (36), panel beater (33), general
allows the citizens of nine Pacific countries and Timor-Leste to take up low and semi- electrician (30), metal fabricator (27) and cook (24). These occupations account for
skilled work opportunities in rural and regional Australia for up to three years. nearly two-thirds of all jobs at this skill level.

But how much is the Pacific able to utilise these opportunities? At Skill Level 4, the occupations employing Pacific migrants in New Zealand are:
forestry worker (246), general truck driver (186), meat boner and slicer (243) and
The Seasonal Worker Programme, which provides access to the Pacific and slaughterer (138). The number in the combined group of aged or disabled carer,
Timor-Leste for seasonal agricultural work, has grown rapidly in recent years. But personal care assistant and nursing support worker is 165. These occupations account
very few citizens of the Pacific or Timor-Leste are actually able to access non-seasonal for four out of five jobs at this skill level.
work opportunities in Australia. Comparisons with New Zealand are particularly
telling. At Skill Level 5, the main occupations approved for Essential Skills visas are builder’s
labourer (105), dairy cattle farm worker (96), meat process worker (93), farm, for-
Both Australia and New Zealand offer similar temporary short- and medi- estry and garden worker (72), seafood process worker (30), commercial housekeeper
um-term skilled work visas open to all countries, for which the Pacific can compete. (27) and hospitality worker (30). These occupations account for over three-quarters
As mentioned, Australia also has the PLS. In 2018–19, only 136 citizens from the of all jobs at this skill level.
Pacific and one from Timor-Leste were granted visas to work in Australia under the
Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa and 203 under the PLS, as at 22 July 2019. By Dairy cattle farmer (with 27 visas approved) was the top occupation for Skill Level 1
contrast, in 2018–19 New Zealand approved 2,808 temporary skill work visas (Es- occupations approved for Pacific citizens under the Essential Skills visa, accounting
sential Skills visas) for Pacific islanders for a year or more. For New Zealand, 6.3 per for one in five visas approved at this skill level. For Skill Level 2 occupations, the
cent of all Essential Skills visas in 2018–19 were granted to Pacific citizens compared largest number of visas granted for Pacific applicants was for chefs (66), accounting
to only 1.0 per cent of Australian TSS and PLS visas for the same year. for just over half of all visas granted to Pacific citizens at this skill level. The spread
Figure 1 shows the skills profile of the occupations of Pacific migrants to both of occupations for Australia’s temporary work visas is much more concentrated. The
countries (with Skill Level 1 being the highest). PLS occupations have not been made public, but can be inferred with reasonable
confidence based on available sectoral information. Combining these two work visas
(TSS and PLS) shows that over half (57 per cent) are at Skill Level 4, compared to
two-in-five for the equivalent New Zealand visa.

For the TSS visa, the top three trades-based occupations at Skill Level 3 for Pacific
migrants are: diesel motor mechanic, general motor mechanic and general fitter,
accounting for two-thirds of the 70 visas granted at this skill level.Which Pacific
countries have taken up these work visas? Fiji accounted for 71 per cent of Essential
Skills visas from the Pacific in 2018–19. The countries next in importance are a long
way behind: Samoa (17 per cent) and Tonga (9.6 per cent). These three countries
account for 98 per cent of Pacific Essential Skills visa approvals in 2018–19.

What are the main source countries for the equivalent visa for Australia? Combin-
ing the TSS and PLS data for 2018–19, Figure 2 shows that the top countries are
Kiribati and Fiji, followed by Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. The PLS has played
Figure 1: Pacific & Timor-Leste citizens granted PLS, TSS & Essential Skills visas a key role for Kiribati, giving them initial preference. For Fiji, its position comes from
2018–19 its dominance of the TSS visa approvals, accounting for over half (56 per cent).

18 Islands Business, November 2019