Meeting Australia's Labour Needs: The Case for a New Low-Skill Work Visa

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Howe ◽  
Alexander Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
International Student ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Migration Program ◽  
Temporary Labour Migration ◽  
Skill Shortages ◽  
Skilled Migrant

This article examines whether Australia's regulatory settings for temporary migrant labour are working effectively and argues that a backdoor currently exists which permits the entry of low skilled migrant workers on visas which are not for a work purpose, namely the international student visa and the working holiday maker visa. We propose that an explicit visa pathway be created for low and semi-skilled workers so that the working conditions of these visa holders are more appropriately monitored and to enable Australia's temporary labour migration program to better meet skill shortages in the economy.

Employers, Recruiters, and Workers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Martin
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Foreign Earnings ◽  
Work Abroad ◽  
Skilled Migrant

Low-skilled migrant workers often pay high fees to work abroad, which reduces the remittances they can send to their families and is regressive because low-skilled workers pay more than high-skilled workers. No one knows exactly how much workers pay, justifying more data on this in order to reduce worker-paid costs. Media exposés of workers who paid a year’s foreign earnings to get a two-year contract may leave the impression that all workers pay such high fees, although the data collected from workers in diverse corridors do not support such a conclusion. Since the number of low-skilled workers often exceeds the number of jobs, worker willingness to pay can be a way of allocating scarce jobs among workers, although government efforts to limit what workers pay can drive payments underground.

Unfair Dismissal Law and Temporary Migrant Labour in Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-48
Author(s):  
Joanna Howe ◽  
Laurie Berg ◽  
Bassina Farbenblum
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Employment Law ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Legal Remedies ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Unfair Dismissal ◽  
Federal Jurisdiction

Increasing attention is being given to the exploitation of temporary migrant workers in Australia, in particular in relation to wage underpayments. But very little focus has been given to the ability of temporary migrant workers to access legal remedies under Australian employment law. This article examines whether temporary migrant workers are able to make and pursue a claim for unfair dismissal within the federal jurisdiction. As unfair dismissal law seeks to protect job security and provides an essential check on managerial prerogative, it is important that temporary migrant workers are able to access this legal avenue to protect them from arbitrary dismissal. We argue there are serious deficiencies in the application, coverage and content of federal unfair dismissal law in relation to temporary migrant workers in Australia.

High-Skilled Migration

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Migration ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Skilled Migration ◽  
The Past ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
Skilled Migrant

Over the past decades an increasing number of countries have developed a growing interest in attracting and retaining skilled and highly skilled migrant workers. This chapter provides an introduction into the nature and dynamics of the global skill market and the role of states and state policies in international migration processes of highly skilled workers. This introduction also outlines the subsequent chapters of this volume which address questions regarding (i) the nature and scope of high-skilled migration and ‘immigration policy packages’ states implement to attract and select high-skilled migrants; (ii) the rationales and determinants of high-skilled migration policies evolving over time and space; (iii) the extent to which policies and other drivers affect high-skilled migration processes in general, and international migration of students, scientists, and health professionals in particular.

Multiculturalism and Temporary Migrant Workers

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Practical Point ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Temporary Labour Migration ◽  
Liberal Perspective

Normative discussions of temporary labour migration have focused mostly on what social and political rights, if any, temporary migrant workers should have. This chapter focuses on a different set of potential entitlements: cultural rights. The question I am interested in is whether the cultural needs and preferences of temporary migrant workers should be accommodated or even supported by receiving states (note that ‘culture’ is construed broadly here so as to include religious needs and preferences). Specifically, I ask when, if ever, temporary migrant workers should have access to three kinds of cultural rights from a liberal perspective: (i) cultural exemptions from laws and working regulations; (ii) cultural subsidies; and (iii) cultural recognition. Asking this question is important not just to fill a lacuna in the literature on multiculturalism (most of which is concerned with the cultural entitlements of citizens), but also from a practical point of view, as many countries harbour large numbers of temporary migrant workers.

scholarly journals Migration Pathways for Frontline Care Workers in Australia and New Zealand: Front Doors, Side Doors, Back Doors and Trapdoors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Howe ◽  
Sara Charlesworth ◽  
Deborah Brennan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Labour Supply ◽  
Revolving Door ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Migration Pathway ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Temporary Labour Migration ◽  
Migration Pathways

This article examines the use of migration law and policy to address the labour needs of the care sector in two jurisdictions. New Zealand uses an Essential Skills visa to allow the direct entry of care workers on a temporary basis while Australia relies on a range of overseas born entrants including international students and working holiday makers, to meet labour supply challenges in the care sector and to supplement the local workforce, which includes many long-term permanent migrants. Changes to the work rights of working holiday makers, together with the introduction of a Designated Area Migration Agreement for Northern Australia and a Pacific Labour Scheme have created new opportunities for temporary entrants to work in care occupations but there is pressure on the Australian Government to open a dedicated temporary labour migration pathway for care workers. New Zealand’s revolving door of temporary migrant care workers and Australia’s de facto low skilled migration pathway both present regulatory challenges with regard to the protection of these workers in the labour market, their claims to citizenship and their opportunity to realise the ‘triple win’ promised in the temporary labour migration literature. The increasing reliance by Australia and New Zealand on temporary migrant care workers to meet the labour supply challenges in the sector also masks a range of other endemic employment relations problems in the sector (in particular, low pay) and may lead to a permanent demand for temporary migrant workers at the expense of local care workers.

Slicing and Dicing Work in the Australian Horticulture Industry: Labour Market Segmentation within the Temporary Migrant Workforce

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-271
Author(s):  
Joanna Howe ◽  
Alex Reilly ◽  
Stephen Clibborn ◽  
Diane van den Broek ◽  
Chris F Wright
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Segmentation ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Labour Market Segmentation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Precarious Jobs

This article exposes how disparity in the immigration rules of different visas combines with poor enforcement of labour standards to produce a segmented labour market in the Australian horticulture industry. We argue that the precarious work norms of the horticulture industry result in a ‘demand’ on the part of employers for harvest workers to perform precarious jobs. Such demand has been met by the workers supplied through different segments of temporary migrant labour who may be a particularly attractive form of precarious labour because of the conditionalities they experience as a result of their visa class. Our analysis demonstrates that not only do growers make preferences between local and temporary migrant workers, but they also make preferences between different types of temporary migrant workers. In identifying segmentation between temporary migrant workers on different visa categories, the article makes a significant contribution to the labour market segmentation literature, which hitherto has focused on segmentation between migrant workers and non-migrant workers.

scholarly journals Neoliberal Governmentality and Low-Wage Migrant Labour in India and Singapore

2021 ◽  
pp. 097325862110029
Author(s):  
Mohan J. Dutta
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Neoliberal Governmentality ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Labour Exploitation ◽  
Comparative Framework ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Health And Well Being

Drawing on a digital ethnography and in-depth interviews conducted with low-wage migrant workers in hyper-precarious working conditions amidst ongoing neoliberal transformations in India and Singapore, this manuscript offers a comparative framework for examining the limits of pandemic communication. Interrogating the ideology of behaviourism that forms the dominant approach, the narratives point to the organizing role of structures as sites of labour exploitation. The exploitative labour conditions constitute the backdrop amidst which the migrant workers negotiate their health and well-being.

scholarly journals Migrant Labour during the Pandemic: A Political Economy Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 001946622110212
Author(s):  
Deepak K. Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Cheap Labour ◽  
The One

This article aims to analyse the plight of the migrant workers in India during the Covid 19 pandemic from a political economy perspective. While taking note of the disruptions and uncertainties during the drastic lockdown that was announced suddenly, it is argued that the vulnerabilities of the migrant labour force are deeply embedded in the long-term changes in the political economy of development in India. These changes, on the one hand, have resulted in the gradual weakening of state support to the working classes, and on the other, have resulted in the normalisation of ‘cheap labour’ as a legitimate objective of neoliberal capitalist development. Locating the conditions of the migrant working class on the specificities of the manifold restructuring of the Indian economy under neoliberal globalisation, the study attempts to emphasise the structural dimensions of the current crisis faced by the migrant labourers. JEL Codes: J46, J61, O15, O17, P16

The ILO and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: labour migration, decent work and implementation of the Compact with specific reference to the Arab states region

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-320
Author(s):  
Ryszard Cholewinski
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Global Compact ◽  
Governance Challenges ◽  
Arab States

AbstractThis paper explores the role played by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the consultations and stocktaking during 2017 and the negotiations during 2018 leading up to the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). It examines selected parts of the text of the GCM, with particular reference to the ILO's mandate of securing social justice and decent work, as well as the protection of migrant workers and governance of labour migration. The final part of the paper looks ahead to the ILO's role in the implementation of the GCM, with specific reference to the Arab states region, where migration for employment is significant and the governance challenges, particularly in relation to the protection of low-wage and low-skilled workers, are especially acute.

scholarly journals On the Social Sustainability of Industrial Agriculture Dependent on Migrant Workers. Romanian Workers in Spain’s Seasonal Agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1062
Author(s):  
Yoan Molinero-Gerbeau ◽  
Ana López-Sala ◽  
Monica Șerban
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Industrial Agriculture ◽  
Temporary Migration ◽  
Agricultural Work ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Migrant Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Migration Program ◽  
The Eu

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Romanian migrants have become one of the most significant national groups doing agricultural work in Spain, initially coming via a temporary migration program and later under several different modalities. However, despite their critical importance for the functioning of Europe’s largest agro-industry, the study of this long-term circular mobility is still underdeveloped in migration and agriculture literature. Thanks to extensive fieldwork carried out in the provinces of Huelva and Lleida in Spain and in the counties of Teleorman and Buzău in Romania, this paper has two main objectives: first, to identify some of the most common forms of mobility of these migrants; and second, to discuss whether this industrial agriculture, hugely dependent on migrant work, is socially sustainable. The case of Romanian migrants in Spanish agriculture will serve to show how a critical sector for the EU and for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, operates on an unsustainable model based on precariousness and exploitation.

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