PERMANENT SKILLED MIGRATION OF ENGINEERS: AN UPDATE July 2013

KEY MESSAGES Permanent skilled migration is intended to supplement the output of Australias education system in skill areas of greatest benefit to Australia. Permanent migration is not intended as a remedy for skill shortages. The annual intake of engineers on permanent visas has increased by an average 16.6% per annum since 2000-01, but fell abruptly to 1.0% in the year ending 30 June 2013. The annual intake last year, however, was a record 8,585.

OBJECTIVE Since about 2000 Australia has experienced persistent shortages of engineers. This was not helped by a downwards trend in domestic completions of engineering courses until 2006. Since then the situation has turned around and completions have been increasing and the latest statistics show them at record levels. However, this change has not been sufficient to meet the increase in the demand for engineers. The difference has been made up through skilled migration. Against this background this Policy Note updates the contribution of permanent skilled migration to 30 June 2013. PERMANENT MIGRATION AND GOVERNMENT POLICY In 2009, Australias skilled migration policy changed. A clear distinction was drawn between migrations role in supplementing population growth and its role in resolving skill shortages. Other than minor tweaking the new policy continues today. Skill shortages are seen as cyclical problems that should be resolved by employers sponsoring temporary skilled migrants under 457 visas or sponsoring skilled migrants for permanent visas. For some years now, employers have been encouraged by immigration officials to initially use temporary visas and, if these individuals prove satisfactory, to take the next step in sponsoring them for permanent visas. All cases of employer sponsorship entail employers guaranteeing the sponsored migrant a job.

 Permanent skilled migration is seen as medium to long term supplementation of the Australian population in skills that benefit the economy and which are not produced in sufficient numbers by Australias education system. Permanent visas may be granted through sponsorship by employers, sponsorship by State or Territory Governments or through applications for visas from suitably qualified independent individuals. The latter group can only apply for visas in skilled occupations that are on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL). Preparing the SOL is the responsibility of the Australian Workplace Productivity Agency (AWPA) which annually recommends are revised SOL to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Criteria used in this process include long course duration, degree of skills specialisation and risks associated with skills not being available. In this arrangement, temporary migration is an automatic stabiliser. When the short term demand for engineers increases, temporary migration is expected to increase and when the demand for engineers falls, temporary migration is expected to fall. The latest temporary migration statistics are not yet available and the trends discussed below are only the permanent migration component. PERMANENT MIGRATION OF ENGINEERS There is an extensive list of engineering occupations on the SOL and it includes all occupations of interest to Engineers Australia and a few of less interest. This list has been stable since the change in Government policy and is a suitable benchmark to measure trends in permanent migration. Because the list is so comprehensive it includes all occupations employers are likely to sponsor as well as the SOL providing the framework for independent skilled migration of engineers. The following Table provides details of permanent visas approved for engineering occupations on the SOL since 2000-01 arranged by the structure of the engineering team. The broad trend evident in the Table is illustrated in the following Chart. Since 2000-01, the number of permanent visas granted to engineering occupations on the SOL has increased from 1,528 to 8,585 in 2012-13. The average annual increase over this period was 16.6%, including a fall of 15.4% in 2010-11 as a consequence of the global financial crisis. The highest growth rate, 38.4%, occurred in 2004-05 but there have been three other years when the increase was over 30%; 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2011-12. As the Chart shows the trend was primarily determined by visas granted to Professional Engineers. The Table shows that many engineering disciplines were involved, some only appearing in recent years. During the last year, the rate of increase slowed abruptly to 1.0% or 88. However, the total intake for the year, 8,585, was a record level and was over 6 times as high as the intake in the first year of this millennium.

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Engineering specialisations granted permanent migration visas Specialisation Professionals Chemical Engineer Materials Engineer Civil Engineer Geotechnical Engineer Quantity Surveyor Structural Engineer Transport Engineer Electrical Engineer Electronics Engineer Industrial Engineer Mechanical Engineer Production Engineer Mining Engineer Petroleum Engineer Aeronautical Engineer Agricultural Engineer Biomedical Engineer Environmental Engineer Naval Architect Other Engineering Professionals Telecommunications Engineer Telecommunications Network Engineer Software Engineer Computer N/W & Systems Engineer TOTAL Engineering Technologists Associates Civil Electrical Electronics Mechanical Other Engineering Telecommunications TOTAL OVERALL TOTAL Source: Statistics supplied by DIAC 15 17 31 28 9 0 100 1528 14 13 22 13 11 0 73 1672 17 15 17 13 18 0 80 2198 33 18 15 16 36 0 118 2946 33 20 33 30 27 0 143 4076 58 28 48 36 67 0 237 4686 51 24 29 45 66 0 215

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

88 18 240 0 71 0 0 134 104 29 209 17 16 11 14 9 2 0 2 240 0 0 103 0 1307 121

89 22 265 0 67 0 0 129 107 19 182 11 21 9 18 9 1 0 4 333 0 0 120 0 1406 193

148 15 333 0 98 0 0 174 110 36 315 16 16 10 15 6 6 0 4 468 0 0 126 0 1896 222

131 29 355 0 105 0 0 224 188 60 389 34 18 12 25 11 2 0 7 566 0 0 352 0 2508 320

229 42 448 0 116 0 0 277 345 87 523 59 26 18 50 7 6 0 11 908 0 0 262 0 3414 519

299 32 695 0 111 0 0 311 449 88 653 56 43 43 46 8 17 0 8 743 0 0 339 0 3941 508

358 44 809 0 90 0 0 533 505 79 859 63 40 36 61 12 17 0 13 373 0 0 334 0 4226 357

289 43 921 0 119 0 0 621 598 95 1007 52 70 37 34 6 16 0 7 281 0 0 271 0 4467 335

435 30 1144 0 176 0 0 741 744 77 1192 62 98 46 58 9 18 0 6 253 0 0 156 0 5245 291

524 14 1637 0 253 0 0 854 1408 26 1659 94 151 25 11 3 10 0 9 112 0 0 75 0 6865 177

357 76 1066 16 158 27 1 497 861 154 1018 85 110 68 76 10 68 33 7 173 59 37 328 37 5322 414

380 92 1091 29 232 61 17 526 849 263 1127 193 100 73 74 24 54 60 8 190 219 125 1428 133 7348 538

231 55 1025 37 237 69 22 435 582 165 973 155 122 51 55 10 52 79 5 212 269 134 2167 488 7630 407

63 34 32 72 63 0 264 5066

92 56 45 106 71 0 370 5906

109 69 43 115 73 0 409 7451

132 122 65 156 86 4 565 6301

152 116 66 151 102 24 611 8497

118 78 55 161 111 25 548 8585

4798

PERMANENT VISAS GRANTED TO ENGINEERING OCCUPATIONS ON THE SOL

Professional Engineers
10000 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

Engineering Technologists

Associate Engineers

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 CONTACT: Andre Kaspura, Policy Analyst, Policy and Public Relations, Engineers Australia akaspura@engineersaustralia.org.au (02) 62706581

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