Temporary Skilled Migration to Australia: Employers' Perspectives1

With the 1996 introduction of a new visa making it easier for employers to sponsor skilled foreign workers, temporary skilled migration has become a significant component of international migration flows to Australia. This paper examines employers' reasons for sponsoring skilled workers from abroad, their modes of recruitment, the occupational skills they require, and their industry profile. We also discuss issues relating to the perception of a shortage of skilled workers, the extent that sponsoring foreign workers substitutes for investing in local training, and the role of networks in recruiting overseas workers. Many employers' now have a global view of labour recruitment. While this is understandable for multinational companies with global operations, many small businesses and public sector institutions are adopting the same strategy to obtain skilled labour which they say is in short supply in Australia. With the internationalization of the Australian economy, there is also an increasing demand for people with specialized skills and knowledge that is not available in Australia's relatively small labour market. An understanding of the demand factors motivating temporary skilled migration is crucial to effectively managing Australia's migration and labour trends.     

Which Skilled Temporary Migrants Become Permanent Residents and Why?1

While most countries of destination of temporary migrants expect them to return home, it is likely that some temporary migration will become permanent if the migrants decide that they would like to remain longer or indefinitely for various reasons. This paper examines the factors associated with temporary migrants’ decision to become or not become permanent residents and the reasons for their decision, using survey data on skilled temporary migrants in Australia. It also looks at whether temporary migration facilitates or substitutes for permanent migration and discusses the likely effectiveness of temporary migration programs that assume temporary migrants will return home.     

The need to import skilled personnel: factors favouring and hindering its international mobility

Skilled migration has become a major element of contemporary flows. It has developed in scale and variety since the 1930s and now takes many forms, including “brain drain”, professional transients, skilled permanent migrants and business transfers. Nevertheless, the data are poor, inconsistent and usually not differentiated by sex. The importance of policies, both national and regional, to control the movement of skilled migrants has escalated. Receiving countries have come increasingly to see the benefits from admitting skilled workers and have adjusted their permanent and/or temporary migration laws/policies to facilitate entry, usually on the proviso that it does not disadvantage their own workers by taking away their jobs. Another set of policy frameworks within which skilled migration is occurring is regional blocs. The experience of the European Union (EU) in promoting the flow of skilled labour, movement in this direction in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mercosul, the Closer Economic Relations (CER) Agreement between Australia and New Zealand and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum are analysed. The article poses two sets of issues facing sending and receiving countries. For sending countries they are: whether to free up or tighten migration; whether to support temporary skilled flows; whether to introduce protective or preventive measures to stem skilled emigration; how to encourage the return of skilled nationals; and whether/how to pursue compensation from post-industrialized countries. For receiving countries they are: whether to encourage temporary or permanent skilled immigration; the level of entry to permit/promote; how to select/process skilled immigrants; whether/how to protect the jobs of locals; and how they ensure the successful labour market integration of skilled immigrants. The article argues that the neo-classical view that skilled migration leads to overall improvement in global development does not apply. “Brain waste” or “wasted skills” occur frequently, to the detriment of both individuals and nations. Improved data and constructive dialogue on skilled migration are needed. Within both regional and international contexts, countries have obligations and responsibilities towards each other which need to be taken seriously.     

The developmental implications of migration from and between small island nations

This article discusses the role of migration in relieving population pressures, thus making continuing development possible, using small nations in the Caribbean and the South Pacific as examples. The Caribbean islands and many Pacific islands have used out-migration to ease population pressures in this century. Surplus labor has been emerging in various Caribbean nations, independent of the international marketing problems of plantation agriculture. Rural populations alienated from plantations have had to make do on questionable and/or remote land. Population surpluses appear to originate in rural areas, but little evidence exists to suggest that those surpluses are the basis for the emigration patterns of the Caribbean islands. Emigration does not solve population problems because when ambitious, skilled workers leave their country, their actions have little to do with the existence of domestic surplus labor and their leaving may do little to facilitate domestic labor absorption. Thus, if mini-states wish to sustain their hopes of economic expansion, they must find the means to employ their surplus labor. Since mainly skilled migrants leave, their going may actually slow development and retard opportunities for labor absorption. Population movements internal to the Caribbean region may further complicate surplus labor and/or population problems. If protective entry requirements impede normal inter-island relations, they may interfere with developmental processes. In general, migration is not a feasible strategy for population control for small island nations. While temporary migration has a more positive impact than other forms of migration, problems do exist. For example, temporary migration 1) can impose significant economic costs on the source-country, and 2) may result in the source country being unable to capitalize on its initial investment in training and education of temporary migrants. In conclusion, import substitution through cooperation between small island nations, production for export where feasible, and more attention to more sophisticated international service linkages hold a better prospect for material progress than relying on the export of surplus populations.     

Migration of Highly Skilled Chinese to Europe: Trends and Perspective

Since China's economic opening and reforms in 1978, the country has broadened and deepened its exchanges and relations with other countries. This has contributed to the increase in the scale of international migration of highly skilled Chinese abroad. The impact of the migration of highly skilled Chinese on China and the relevant nations particularly deserve attention and study. Following the earlier migration flows mainly to the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the migration of highly skilled Chinese to Europe has become a notable new trend. Currently, the flow of international migration of highly skilled Chinese personnel is mainly oriented toward Europe and the United States. While studying abroad has been the main form of migration of the skilled, this has now been joined by the migration of technical and professional staff, and the trend is increasing. The main country of destination for Chinese students is the United States, which absorbs more than half of the total, while Australia and Canada receive the largest number of skilled Chinese manpower. The United States also receives a large number of Chinese technical personnel, but its proportion has declined, while the flow to Europe has sharply increased. This development may be attributed to the global expansion of economic, scientific and technological, as well as cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation. But it is also the result of an increase in the educational investment made by the Chinese people following the continuous increase in China's economic strength and the population's personal income. Of greater importance are the gaps between China and Europe at the scientific, technological, and educational levels and the research and marketing environment. The intervening changes in labour market and immigration policies in European and American countries accelerate the trend further. For all of these and other reasons, the spatial distribution of Chinese students will become more balanced and play a positive role in the promotion of mutually beneficial exchanges between China and other countries.     

What Human Capital,Which Migrants? Returned Skilled Migration to Slovakia From the UK1

This article contributes to the understanding of skilled labor migration by exploring some of the differences in the economic behavior of three contrasting groups of returned skilled labor migrants from Slovakia to the United Kingdom: professionals and managers; students; and au pairs. Formal professional experiences and training provide only limited understanding of the value of working/studying abroad. Instead, there is a need to look at particular competences, such as interpersonal skills and self‐confidence, as well as the role of social recognition. The empirical results also emphasize the importance of spatiality and temporality when analyzing skilled labor migration.     

Immigrant workers in an emigrant economy: an examination of replacement migration in the Middle East

The author investigates human resource shortages in a labor-supplying country, focusing particularly on the case of Jordan. He "examines the growth, characteristics and role of immigrant labour in an erstwhile emigrant economy and assesses the validity of the replacement migration model. Data is presented from the author's survey of some 3,751 work permits issued to foreign workers in Amman between October 1982 and January 1983." It is noted that "replacement migration is only one aspect of a more diffuse pattern of labour inflows which have important implications for the Jordanian economy in general and the labour market in particular." In addition to replacement labor migration, which involves the employment of skilled workers in sectors experiencing domestic labor shortages, the author identifies the roles played by collective contract labor, involving immigrant labor for project-specific work, and secondary labor, involving low-skill work at discriminatory wage rates. The distinctions between these forms of labor migration and their economic implications are discussed. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Gender differences in determinants of temporary labor migration in China: a multilevel analysis

Data from a 1998 migration survey in Hubei province are used to examine gender differences in the determinants of temporary labor migration from a multi-level perspective. The authors find that community level factors play a key role in temporary labor migration; models omitting community level variables are poor in predicting temporary labor migration. Significant gender differences exist in determinants of temporary labor migration. For men, temporary labor migration is mainly a response to community level factors; individual or household characteristics have little predictive power. For women, by contrast, temporary labor migration is predominantly determined by individual characteristics; community level factors are not as important.     

Are They Deterred by Welfare? Digging into the Drivers of Highly Skilled Temporary and Long-term Migrants in Europe

Literature researching the drivers of highly skilled migration (HSM) often prioritizes labor market returns to education and downscales the importance of public welfare. This article develops an innovative empirical strategy which allows us to see how a selection of pull factors attracts temporary and long-term educated migrants in Europe. To do so, we built a unique longitudinal contextual dataset merging information from the European Labor Force Survey (2000-2014) with selected Eurostat and OECD country indicators. Country-fixed effect time series allow us to concentrate on cross-country effects. Our evidence suggests that returns to education attract temporary HSM and long-term stayers equally. However, it is also shown that public welfare and taxation operate differently for these two groups and do not deter long-term residents. Our article proposes revisiting the assumption that HSMs are mere income maximizers. As we argue, long-term HSM may well be attracted by generous welfare setups.     

The worldwide market for skilled migrants: can Australia compete?

"The purpose of this article is to...[analyze] the relative importance of internal and external factors on the demand for skilled immigration visas to Australia. Our objectives are to determine how the size of the pool of potential migrants is influenced by factors such as relative economic conditions and U.S. and Canadian immigration policies and to determine what implications these factors have on the relative quality (skill level) of potential migrants to Australia. Our results indicate that the demand for skilled immigration visas to Australia is related to the number of immigrants accepted by the United States and Canada as well as employment possibilities in Australia. We do not find a relationship between U.S. and Canadian policy and the relative quality of the applicant pool."     

Managing the permanent temporariness of prolonged migration: The role of local and transnational care circulation among Argentine temporary migrants in Australia

In the past two decades, Australia has shifted from being a settler nation that promoted state-supported permanent migration to one where the scale and relative importance of temporary migration schemes have grown significantly. In 2017, Australia was the second largest issuing country of temporary visa permits after the United States, with temporary migrants applying, on average, for 3.3 temporary visas and spending 6.4 years in this multi-step visa journey to achieve permanent residency . As part of a broader research project on the social implications of temporary migration programs, we examine how Argentine temporary migrants exchange care to navigate temporary visa restrictions and the permanent temporariness in which they live. Our central argument is that transnational and local expressions, practices, and processes of care are co-constituted in particularistic temporary migrant care configurations that facilitate prolonged migration projects and continuity of care over time, despite the precarity that permanent temporariness brings. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork among Argentine temporary migrants, we illustrate the dynamics in which economic, accommodation, personal, practical, emotional and moral care is exchanged. The findings reveal the central role that transnational economic and practical as well as local, including local virtual, proximity care has in the everyday lives of Argentine temporary migrants. Ironically, their fragile temporariness may be an incentive to develop local support networks or maintain strong transnational ties to survive living in limbo.     

Local Economic Opportunity and the Competing Risks of Internal and U.S. Migration in Zacatecas,Mexico1

This article uses a competing risks model to examine the effects of origin economic conditions on the probability of temporary U.S. and internal labor migration in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. We measure origin economic conditions with municipal‐level indices of employment and small‐scale investment opportunities that we constructed from population and economic census data. The results of our analysis demonstrate the important influence of local employment and investment opportunities on migration outcomes. Controlling for the prior municipal rate of U.S. return migration and other factors, positive opportunities for small‐scale investment are associated with a higher risk of temporary migration to the United States. This result is consistent with investment oriented migration predicted by the new economics of labor migration theory. We also find comparable social network effects for both internal and U.S. migration. Having social ties to active migrants of one type (U.S. or internal), encourages migration of the same type and discourages migration of the other type.     

Educationally Channeled International Labor Mobility: Contemporary Student Migration from China to Japan

International education is an important channel of labor migration. Most commonly, this form of labor migration is considered as “brain drain,” represented by the retention of graduate students in science and engineering in the host labor market. This case study of contemporary Chinese student migration to Japan shows that international students have different credentials, interests, and motivations for migrating abroad, and consequently provide the host society both unskilled and skilled labor power. Moreover, Chinese students’ labor market practices as skilled labor migrants show their important roles in the economic globalization. Aside from scientific and engineering skills, Chinese students use their linguistic and cultural competencies to act as intermediaries between their host and home economies.     

Global Changes and Gendered Responses: The Feminization of Migration From Georgia

While frequently discussed, the feminization of migration remains among the least understood trends in migration literature. Existing research links feminization of migration to socioeconomic change in migrant origin countries, changes in destination‐country labor markets, structural factors, and changing social attitudes. However, questions of how the feminization of migration begins and how it becomes socially institutionalized remain largely unanswered. Having experienced a recent, dramatic increase in female migration, Georgia provides an excellent case to study the emergence of women's labor migration. Our findings highlight the importance of human capital, increasing divorce rates, and an absence of local economic opportunities in motivating increasing numbers of women to migrate. Additionally, changing destination patterns and shifts in labor‐market demand toward feminized occupations act as key initial conditions enabling the growth of women's migration. As migration is feminized, cultural beliefs stigmatizing female migrants can be renegotiated to frame women's migration within normative gender approaches, providing pathways for cultural maintenance. In the early stages of the feminization of migration, we find the initial attempts to reframe migration are powerful; they can challenge, or at least delay, the expansion of women's autonomy that is often associated with migration.     

Temporary versus permanent population mobility in Melanesia: a case study from Vanuatu

A case study of temporary and circular Melanesian population mobility and labor migration focuses on the island of Paama in the Republic of Vanuatu (an archipelago of 80 islands) in Melanesia and on urbanization, which is a relatively recent phenomena. A critical analysis is provided of temporary and permanent migration and methodological inadequacies in explanations of mobility. Mobility is neither a cause nor a result of economic, social, and political change; it is the interrelationship among the general structural setting, people's personal and social environment, and their perceptions and actions. In the case of Paamese mobility, changes appeared in the source of migration and destination areas. There was a period of original land acquisition, when migrants returning from Queensland with tools were the only ones who could actually acquire land. Inequalities of land access date from this period. The population is dependent on external income sources as well as the need for plantation migration and a huge increase in bridewealth. Concurrently, "kampani" or community work, which ensures the continuous authority of local chiefs and village elders, creates problems for those seeking work for their own families. These conditions encourage out-migration. Rapid urban growth began in the 1960s with a diversified economy. Employment opportunities were available for women; single employee residence spaces declined. This meant families could permanently settle in urban areas. Retirement benefits were also available and contributed to securing permanent migration. There were growing needs for a stable, skilled labor force. Another change was the abolishment of the tripartite colonial administration. Rural disasters and price declines also triggered urban migration. Migration to the town of Port Vila by Paamese men and women between 1953 and 1982 is analyzed, based on 258 employment related mobility histories collected in 1982-83. Two processes are evident: continued periodic, short-term, rural-based circulation and permanent urban migration among Paamese to Port Vila. A major reversal of mobility is unlikely in the future. The reasons why are indicated.     

Short-Term Skilled Labour Movements and Economic Growth

Economic models typically study the long-term effects of migration, and hence emphasise their impact on a country's endowment of skills using net migration rates. This approach however does not take into account the contribution of short-term movements of skilled labour on a country's stock of knowledge and ability to innovate. This paper develops a theoretical approach to extend the analysis to gross migration flows, which captures the volume of interactions and the potential for knowledge exchanges between a country's skilled labour and workers living elsewhere. One implication of the approach developed is that higher growth can be achieved through higher international labour mobility, even if there is no net migration. Countries that find it difficult or impossible to attract skilled labour on a permanent basis may therefore enjoy the growth effect brought by skilled temporary migrants.     

Temporary versus Permanent Youth Brain Drain: Economic Implications

Existing high levels of temporary migration between Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union (EU) have highlighted a number of concerns relating to the eastern enlargement of the Union. While much of the debate has focused on the destinations, we use Slovakia as a case study to explore economic implications for the countries of origin of highly skilled migrants. First, the paper examines estimates of the scale of “youth brain migration”, comparing survey‐based and expert‐opinion estimates with our own estimate based on reconciling labour market and educational data. This identifies a substantial loss of graduate workers from the labour force through migration, accounting for a potentially significant proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Second, we consider whether such migration will constitute “brain drain/overflow” or “brain circulation”: in other words will it be temporary or permanent? In some ways, however, this is a false dichotomy, for there are strong links between initial temporary migration and intended permanent migration, explored here through a survey of the motivations and social networks of returned migrants. Third, we address the ability of national states to intervene to mediate such losses. We generally concur with other commentators on the need for a multi‐scalar and multi‐functional approach, focusing especially on economic development. However, we are pessimistic about the likely speed of economic convergence and, moreover, argue that initial temporary migration (with implications for permanent migration) will continue to be driven by non‐economic goals.     

Emigration dynamics in southern Africa

This review of the dynamics of international migration in Southern Africa focuses on four aspects of labor migration: 1) while migrant workers suffer from discrimination and lack of protection, there are few alternatives for them; 2) the regulations imposed by the Chamber of Mines in South Africa favor the mining industry at the expense of the workers; 3) worker supplier states have few options for negotiating a commercialized migration policy to achieve economic benefits; and 4) foreign mine workers must unionize in order to escape perpetual subordination. The review opens with a consideration of how migrant mine workers from Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland have provided a source of cheap labor which has enhanced the economic prosperity of South Africa. The role of the Chamber of Mines in regulating the supply of labor and employment policy for its members is described. Attention is then turned to Lesotho where land pressure has exacerbated poverty levels. Large-scale migration has led the citizens of Lesotho to consider it a place to live or retire to, not a place to work. Labor migration from Lesotho is organized, is supported by the government, is recurrent, and remains a viable alternative despite faltering demand. The discussion of Lesotho includes a consideration of its political, economic, and demographic situation as well as of ecological factors. Briefer analyses are then provided for Botswana, Swaziland, and Mozambique. The receiving country, South Africa, is shown to be suffering a decline in economic growth which is marked by widespread unemployment. More than 250,000 Whites are prospective emigrants from South Africa. After considering the issues surrounding refugees, regional concerns created by changing economic and political scenarios, and labor strategies which could be adopted by supplier states, the report reiterates a series of recommendations which arose from two major conferences on the problem of unemployment. It is concluded that the tendency to emigrate is fostered by landlessness (Lesotho), surplus labor (Botswana and Swaziland), and political and economic underdevelopment (Mozambique). In order to redirect migrant flows, policies must address labor migration, political refugees, urban-rural dynamics, job-creation, income distribution, and democratization.     

Causes of Uruguayan migration to Argentina

2 main hypotheses have been suggested to explain Uruguayan migration to Argentina: 1) political emigration because of the military regime imposed in June 1973 and 2) economic emigration because of the economic improvement in destination countries and the worsening conditions at home. A further formulation of the 2nd hypothesis incorporates sociodemographic factors in its theory. This paper elaborates a theoretical framework using human capital theories to formulate a model of the effects of the economic variables of wages and unemployment, and adds political and sociological variables to the model. The authors then quantify the relative effects of the political, human capital, and informational variables. Results of multivariate analysis show that for 1966-1981, 53.1% moved for economic reasons, 25.7% moved for political reasons, and 21.2% moved for social reasons. In the long run, the most important cause of migration to Argentina is related to the relative situation of regional labor markets and people's willingness to incur the costs of migration if there is a reasonable probability of economic improvement in the other country. Only from 1973-1975 are political and institution reasons of primary importance. In 1976, sociological reasons predominated.     

International migration in a changing world

This paper eulogizes the life and work of Gunther Beijer (1904-1983), an international migration research supporter, who was himself a refugee from Nazi Germany. The brain drain of professional workers of other nations into such traditional receiving countries as the US, Canada, and Australia particularly interested Beijer. The creation of many independent nations after World War II changed migration trends greatly. By the 1970s the immigration policies of receiving countries had changed to favor non-Caucasian professional workers and relatives of current residents. This new migration may be classified as 1) permanent settler, 2) guest worker, 3) professional transient, 4) clandestine, and 5) refugee. Non-Caucasian immigrants increasingly find that they may not be wanted when perceived as an economic or social threat. Beijer understood guest worker migration within Europe in the early 1960s, but he could not foresee the demands that guest workers and their families would place on receiving countries. Guest worker migration gives sending countries relief from unemployment and provides remittances; it also provides needed labor to economically health countries. Guest workers such as those currently employed in the Persian Gulf may not be accepted socially or politically by the host community and may be considered undesirable employees on their return home. Nations often tolerate illegal or clandestine migration when the labor need is high, but illegals may be expelled when economic or political conditions turn against them. The problems of the estimated 10 million refugees fall increasingly on developing countries, but must be shared by all nations since their increasing numbers affect domestic and international politics.