Efforts by skilled migrants to meet employer demands for Australian qualifications result in only marginal returns, at least in the short term, according to by workforce experts at Flinders University and Charles Darwin University.
While industries are increasingly embracing the skilled migrant program in an attempt to overcome specific skills shortages, migrants' qualifications from their home countries are often not recognised in Australia.
Highlights:
- Researchers at Flinders University and Charles Darwin University have found that many Australian employers do not recognise skilled migrants' qualifications
- According to the report, employers reject qualifications accepted by the Australian government in their point scores
- 'Local work experience has been the main cause for me not finding a suitable job,' 36-year old Sonal Bhalla says
“The relative lack of consideration given to the portability of skills is demonstrated through the skills mismatch and underutilisation shown in our data,” Dr Andreas Cebulla, Associate Professor at Flinders University and the co-author of the research, said.
The non-recognition of overseas qualifications and experience still occurs widely, despite federal policies that select skilled migrants based on credentials and skills measured by level of education and occupation.
Skilled migrants find it confusing that the Australian government accepts certain qualifications for entry into the country as part of its points system, yet employers refuse to accept them as transferrable.
Significantly, the researchers found that a migrant’s rush to find regular income by quickly accepting any job offer increases their risk of occupational and skills mismatch.
The survey included respondents from India, the UK, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Iran and the Philippines.
Dr Cebulla told SBS Hindi that 28 per cent of respondents (more than 2,000 respondents) interviewed in the study described their country of birth as India.
The largest groups of affected migrants were from occupation groups involving information and communication technology professionals; those working in business, human resource or marketing; design, engineering, science or transportation; and specialist managers, health or education professionals.
About one-third (34 per cent) of skilled migrants involved in the survey sought additional qualifications and skills by enrolling in one or more occupational courses, and some also sought to obtain English language proficiency certificates.
However, acquiring additional Australian qualifications makes comparatively little difference to their employment status when compared to migrants who do not seek new qualifications.
According to the study, men were more likely to have a job than women and those aged 40 or older were likely to be underutilised, unemployed or mismatched in jobs.
For 36-year-old Sonal Bhalla, a law graduate who currently works in a call centre, the study's findings ring true.
She said that both unrecognised qualifications and the need to show local work experience pose major obstacles.
"I was a professional lawyer in India and also acquired another degree from an Australian university just to get that extra edge. However, even that did not help me in securing a suitable job here as I have no local experience," Ms Bhalla, who also worked for Uber Eats, told SBS Hindi.
Ms Sonal Bhalla who lives in Melbourne. Source: Supplied by Sonal Bhalla
Monica Guha, another professional in Melbourne, has experienced similar difficulty finding a job in human resource management that matches her skill set.
"We migrated on a state sponsored visa and landed in Darwin where I was able to find my kind of job. But after moving to Melbourne it has been hard," Ms Guha, who has now found a job in recruitment, said.
Ms Monica Guha currently lives in Melbourne. Source: Supplied by Monica Guha
The researchers noted that the exclusion of migrants from Australia’s welfare system for the first four years after their arrival can pressure migrants into accepting jobs that do not match their nominated occupation or skills.
“We recommend exploring measures within the welfare system that allow for more extended job searches to avoid the cost of occupational mismatches,” Dr Cebulla said.
“For Australia to keep focusing on employment or unemployment rates, it obfuscates the underemployment or the utilisation of migrant’s skills.”
Dr Cebulla further said policy implications stem from this research, including statutory agencies providing better advice and guidance on the challenges of skills recognition and building appropriate pathways specific to a migrant’s occupation; a review of current skills recognition in Australia, and re-examining the welfare system available to skilled migrants in Australia.
“We argue that Australia should consider developing a more coherent skilled migration process to better harness the human capital of skilled migrants,” Dr Cebulla added.
