Migrants in the Australian workforce A guidebook for policy makers

Grattan Institute 2022 5 Migrants in the Australian workforce Figure 1.1: More than one in four people in Australia aged in their 20s and 30s arrived here in the past two decades Australian Residents by visa class Incumbent Arrived before 2000 Born in Australia 2233mm All residents Born in Australia OtherStudent Work Humanitarian Family Skilled Temporary Permanent Australian Residents by age and v. [...] Grattan Institute 2022 6 Migrants in the Australian workforce 2 Australia’s labour market Figure 2.1: The number of workers in Australia has grown over time The number of workers in Australia has grown rapidly in recent Millions of employed people in Australia, 1861-2020 decades. [...] 4m Figure 2.1 on the preceding page shows that the number of employed people in Australia is not fixed.5 The number of workers grows roughly Professionals in line with Australia’s population.6 2.2 Occupations and occupation skill levels 3m Each of the 15 million jobs in Australia is classified into one of about 1,100 occupations in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupati. [...] Population.38 Since 2006, the ABS has used the ‘12/16’ rule to The Federal Government manages the level and the composition of determine whether a person ‘usually’ lives in Australia: ‘resident if they the permanent migrant intake, setting targets for the skilled, family, have been (or expected to be) residing in Australia for a period of 12 and humanitarian streams each year. [...] An increase in the stock of temporary Australian Citizen migrants living in Australia adds to population ± growth is driven both by increases in the number of temporary migrants, and in how long they stay in Australia.