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OVER the next five years, 43 per cent of businesses expect to become more reliant on 457 visa holders to fill skilled vacancies as baby boomer retirement leaves a skills gap to be filled by foreign workers.

Australian companies are looking for creative ways to grow and sustain their workforce, according to a skilled migration survey.

The KPMG survey finds that Australia’s skills shortage problem has increased by about 10 per cent with nearly 40 per cent of respondents to the survey increasing their skilled migration intake during the past 12 months.

Head of KPMG’s migration practice Karen Waller, says employers are continuing to recruit offshore to satisfy their skills need.

“Even as economic activity is slowing across some sectors, the accelerating retirement of the baby boomer generation is leaving large skill and experience gaps in the Australian workforce,” she says.

“It is a trend that will intensify over the coming decade as the first of the baby boomers reached age 65 this year. More than 28 per cent of respondent businesses reported that they were already feeling the effects of the departure of baby boomers from the workforce.

“The message for businesses is they should be planning now for the future recruitment of staff because it may not be as easy as it used to be.”

Waller says the spread of shortages to more semi-skilled professions including carers and truck drivers is surprising.

“These are two occupations that will be impacted with the exit of baby boomers in a big way. Nearly a third of respondents said the workers they are looking for are not listed in the Government approved occupation list for 457 visas and therefore the Government should be keeping a close eye on this over the next 12 months,” she says.

According to the survey, almost 80 per cent of respondents had recruited 20 or fewer workers in the past year using 457 visas, suggesting most organisations continued to use the scheme selectively.

“This selective use of the scheme could be because there may be a perception that it’s too difficult for the average business to use. However, our survey found a continued support for the 457 visa scheme with more than 80 percent saying the process had remained consistent and easy to navigate so the perception may not be the reality,” says Waller.

“Forty-three per cent of respondents expected to become more reliant on 457 visa holders to fill skilled vacancies over the next 5 years – an increase of 11 per cent from 2010.

“The challenge now for government is to keep up to date with a moving and unsettled global economy. This will ensure that the 457 visa program will continue to meet and support Australia’s skilled migration requirements.”

Report from: http://www.brisbanebusinessnews.com.au/article2477/SKILL%20SHORTAGE%20MEANS%20INCREASE%20IN%20457%20VISAS.html

POST-GRADUATE research students from China, India and Indonesia will find it easier to get a visa under changes to be announced today by immigration minister Chris Bowen.

Mr Bowen said relaxed visa assessment for 29 countries could benefit about 10,500 would-be students, including South Koreans wanting to come for English language courses (ELICOS) or vocational education (VET).

He said he would not follow departmental advice, following its 2011 review of visa assessment levels, to tighten settings in some cases. The levels, starting with the most relaxed at AL1, vary according to country, course type and estimated migration risk.

“While it was recommended that some assessment levels be increased, I have decided to only implement the reductions in order to best support Australia’s international education sector,” Mr Bowen said.

Instead of tightening some settings as suggested, the governmant is expected to put 78 countries on notice to encourage them to do something about a decline in compliance affecting chiefly the VET, post-graduate research and ELICOS visa categories.

Under assessment relaxations to take effect from March 24, would-be postgraduate research students from  Bhutan, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Tanzania will be assessed at the lowest AL1 level.

Also moving to AL1 are Bulgaria (ELICOS, VET and higher education), Indonesia (schools), South Korea (ELICOS and VET), Mexico (VET) and Venezuela (VET).

The lower the level, the fewer the hoops a would-be student must jump through to get a visa.

In his student visa review ex-politician Michael Knight was highly critical of the assessment level system, saying it was complicated yet crude in its reflection of migration risk. He recommended an overhaul.

Mr Bowen’s department issued a discussion paper last month and invited suggestions on a better system.

• BERNARD LANE 
• From:The Australian 
• February 15, 2012 12:00AM

JULIA Gillard has flagged a shake-up of vocational education and training to help the nation cope with the challenges of a high dollar and continued economic turmoil.

In a speech to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne, the Prime Minister warned of “daily choppiness” in financial markets and vowed her government would return the budget to surplus this year despite “more difficult” global conditions.

“Handing down a budget surplus this May will be good for the Australian economy, good for growth and good for jobs,” Ms Gillard said.

“My firm conclusion is that this is the right call in the present economic circumstances.”

Ms Gillard said thousands of vocational education and training students would benefit from sweeping reforms to the sector in an effort to firm up a new “high-participation, high-productivity economy”.

“In coming weeks we will be releasing details of proposals for reforms,” the Prime Minister said.

“Under the plans now being developed, thousands of vocational education and training students would no longer have to pay upfront fees, while others would be guaranteed a significant fee subsidy of up to $7800.”

She said students studying foundation and entry-level courses for technical and service sector areas such as health, hospitality, business, communications, construction and transport would be given access to HECS-style loans – a move revealed in The Australian last week.

“I want the kids who learn these vital skills to have the same right to a low-cost loan as kids who study economics or law,” she said.

“Because millions of Australians will need new skills to make the most of the new Australian economy we are building.”

Ms Gillard said the reforms would be put to the next Council of Australian Governments so all states and territories could agree to the changes.

In her first public address of the parliamentary year Ms Gillard also championed Australia’s economic strength despite the current downturn in Europe and said the strong Australian dollar had positioned the nation as a “safe haven” for investment.

“For the first time in history Australia is being referred to as something of a global `safe haven’,” she said.

“What is certain from all of this is our dollar is likely to remain relatively high for years to come.”

Ms Gillard sought to positioning her government as the successor to the reformist Hawke-Keating administration, saying Australia was better placed to deal with the challenges of an economic downturn, particularly the reallocations of capital and labour such as those which occurred in the recessions of 1982 and 1991.

“The growing pains we feel in parts of our economy today come when unemployment is just over five per cent, when our economy has created over seven hundred thousand jobs since late 2007, when there are shortages in many skills, when prospects for work for skilled workers are genuinely bright,” she said.

“While economic transformations are never easy, this time we have an advantage we have rarely had before.”

• LANAI VASEK AND JAMES MASSOLA 
• From:The Australian 
• February 01, 2012 2:23PM

Many people when they are searching for a job, particularly on internet sites such as seek.com.au, only type in keywords which match the job description.

Tip of the Day:

Try typing in the keywords of the qualification you have achieved to see what opportunities there are of which you are now qualified for. I.e. on www.seek.com.au try typing in ‘diploma business’ in the keywords column to see how many jobs appear to which you already meet one of their requirements.

This can save you time looking through countless advertisements with different criteria.

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Wishing you all a very merry and safe Christmas from everyone here at the Training Institute of Queensland!