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Engineering Immigration Isn't Working?

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EEVblog:
Look like engineering immigration isn't working in Australia?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-06/engineering-job-vacancies-up-skilled-migrants-under-utilised/101400026


--- Quote ---Engineering job vacancies up 176 per cent, while skilled migrants feel overlooked by employers
ABC Pilbara / By Cameron Carr

Karen Huang says being from overseas makes finding skilled employment much more difficult.(ABC News: Amelia Searson)
Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article

New data suggests almost half of migrants actively seeking a job as an engineer are currently unemployed, as job vacancies in the sector rise by 176 per cent.

Key points:
Australia's engineering sector is grappling with a skilled worker shortage
Despite having their qualifications recognised in Australia, migrants are less likely to find jobs compared to their Australian counterparts
A bias against workers not perceived as "local" is considered to be one of the main reasons
The National Skills Commission Labour Market Insights to June 2022 found 47 per cent of the group did not have work, although vacancy numbers in engineering continued to be the highest seen since 2012.

Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew said many skilled migrants in Australia could fill these roles but employers were biased against hiring migrants.
"Research shows there is a significant cohort of migrant engineers already in Australia who have long-term difficulties securing employment appropriate to their experience," she said.
"Our research found that employer bias associated with not being 'local' — whether it's experience, networks, standards, references, or qualifications — was the biggest culprit.
"Tapping into this under-utilised talent supply offers one immediate means of easing skills shortages."

Cultural background a factor
Karen Huang said she was not surprised migrants were struggling to find work in the sector.
Ms Huang moved to Australia from Taiwan in 2012 with a university degree and career aspirations.
Like many other skilled immigrants, she could only find work in hospitality.
She has lived in the Pilbara for about four years, surrounded by the country's mining and resources sector, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described as the "engine room of the economy".

Ms Huang, now the chair of the Northwest Multicultural Association, said many members moved to the region to work in the resources sector, but struggled to get a foot in the door, despite being qualified.
"It's very difficult when you come from a non-Australian culture, especially when it comes to interviews," she said.
"Skills are overlooked simply because bosses are concerned you won't fit in with your colleagues."

She said language skills could also be a barrier to employment.
"You can get knocked back from an entry-level job for a grammar mistake in a cover letter. They assume you're uneducated because your English isn't perfect," she said.

Ms Huang said she was hopeful more migrants would be able to find work in engineering and resources.
"I think if you want to do something, just do it, don't limit yourself, if you want to chase it, just keep trying, even if it take maybe hundreds of times or thousands of times, you'll get there," she said.
Experience not valued Engineers Australia is the federal government's approved authority to assess skills and competencies for the engineering profession.

Ms Madew said the organisation ran a migrant skill assessment to test people looking to become engineers.
"We're looking to see if their overseas qualifications and skills are comparative to the requirements of being an engineer in Australia," she said.

A woman with silver hair, wearing a pink blazer, smiles at the camera
Romilly Madew says poor hiring practices result in skilled migrants being overlooked.(Supplied)
After completing these programs, migrants can prove to employers that overseas studies and industry experience qualifies them to work in skilled professions.

Participants also satisfy English competency standards to confirm their language skills are up to scratch.
But even when there was recognition of prior learning and work, migrants who have completed these courses overwhelmingly said their international experience was not valued or was overlooked.
Ms Madew believed employers held an unconscious bias towards hiring non-Australians.
"Once the migration skills assessment is done, their experience and attributes should be recognised, but there is definitely a bias there," she said.
"It comes back to an idea that since they don't have local experience or networks that they won't succeed in the Australian workforce."
The ABC reached out to major resources and mining employers, which said they were committed to fair work and hiring practices.
--- End quote ---

SiliconWizard:
Yeah, dunno. As an Australian, what do you think about that?

As to the article uh. It's a lot of words for not saying much at all. Looks like typical woke stuff, which is pretty much all that mainstream media can spit out these days.

What if they actually tried to address the matter? That is 1. Why there is a shortage of engineers and what we can do about it (maybe not *just* resorting to "migrants", whatever that really means these days), and 2. As to migrants, maybe there are yet other factors here that were conveniently not listed. The article is assuming that all people that were counted in those stats are all "skilled". Whatever that really means.

Finally, 3. Maybe those figures are also misleading?

Someone:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on September 07, 2022, 04:35:27 am ---Yeah, dunno. As an Australian, what do you think about that?

As to the article uh. It's a lot of words for not saying much at all. Looks like typical woke stuff, which is pretty much all that mainstream media can spit out these days.

What if they actually tried to address the matter? That is 1. Why there is a shortage of engineers and what we can do about it (maybe not *just* resorting to "migrants", whatever that really means these days), and 2. As to migrants, maybe there are yet other factors here that were conveniently not listed. The article is assuming that all people that were counted in those stats are all "skilled". Whatever that really means.

Finally, 3. Maybe those figures are also misleading?
--- End quote ---
Businesses were required to advertise and "fail" to find a local to take a role before they could obtain the justification to bring over an immigrant...

advertising for senior roles at entry level rates of pay! "why cant we find anyone fill this role" lol. Hire that desperate immigrant who doesnt know what the cost of living is over here, after a few years and gaining permanent status that immigrant also wants pay that matches the locals. More immigration will just continue driving down engineering salaries and exploiting the people brought over to do the roles.

EEVblog:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on September 07, 2022, 04:35:27 am ---Yeah, dunno. As an Australian, what do you think about that?
--- End quote ---

I smell BS going on somewhere here.
The majority of employers are not going to turn down the opportunity to employe a suitably qualified immigrant who will most likely work for less pay than a citizen.
Of course electronics is a very different field to other fields of engineering like construction, cival, mechnical, and even power/electrical.

EEVblog:

--- Quote from: Someone on September 07, 2022, 04:53:51 am ---advertising for senior roles at entry level rates of pay! "why cant we find anyone fill this role" lol. Hire that desperate immigrant who doesnt know what the cost of living is over here, after a few years and gaining permanent status that immigrant also wants pay that matches the locals. More immigration will just continue driving down engineering salaries and exploiting the people brought over to do the roles.

--- End quote ---

I'm sure there is a lot of that.

One thing a lot of people overseas don't understand is that aussie don't like to move their city for work (or education). Heck, many won't move within a city. So makes it harder to find people here. Immigrants are more likely to move to where the jobs are though.

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