Worker shortages and Overseas migration

NSW, Victoria call for urgent acceleration of visas for workers


What can be done.
@sash has talked about processing times for visa applicants.
Is there and an another motivation for delaying visa applications such as propping employment numbers and increasing wages through less competition?

 

The first step has been taken by the people removing a govt which did nothing to address issues.

I am hoping this current govt makes the required policy and resourcing changes. Based on what they are doing with Penny Wong with the Pacific nations this is a real possibility. Because if this does not get fixed our economy may be affected....via further wage rises.

 

Wages have to go up eventually.......

With eba's and various cuts my actual hourly rate is 15% less than it was 15 years ago
Hence why I don't bother working much !
Better to go broke sitting on a beach in the sunshine than fixing equipment under factory fluro's

 

Yeah... not good. As people need to pay for the basics.

I am really hoping this govt can get the balance right.

The last time this was done well was under the Hawke/Keating govt. People don't see that simple tax cuts and no efforts to transform the economy and address things like climate change have not worked.

Unfortunately...we are at the crossroads. Lets hope Albo's team sets a new path....

 

The balance has been way off ie howard turbo charged immigration and its been gping gangbusters till covid. Great for ppty investors and employers, not for everyone else. Im in tech, just got a 25pct lift in contract rate, prior to that its been stagnant for the last 12 years. Melb took 22 years to go from 3 to 4 mill, 9 years from 4 to 5 mill. No one ever voted for mass immigration, it kind of just got slipped in there.

 

They should organise bus loads of Mt Druittites and move them to Victoria. I know, they’re not working here but the change of scenery might change things for them down there.

 

If the Government really wants wage rises, which is only is happening now, due to lower immigration, then it seems counter intuitive to import more workers.

Sure it's good for employers as they can continue to hire cheaper staff, but probably not for everybody else. Yes some of that will get passed on via higher prices/charges, which leads to further inflation which requires further wage rises, etc.

We are at some of the highest levels of employment the country has ever seen, and there is a pretty good reason for that. However it only came through circumstance/the pandemic.
Meddling with the natural market seems dangerous.

 

The main man Albo is onto that, writing a letter to the Fair Work Commission "recommending" a increase to the minimum wage.

 

Suppose we can't call them Druids... What about Whalanites? Bidwillians?

 

Really? I feel the ones that actually WANT to work are.....the rest, well, they'll just call it a holiday.

 

If there are tight labour markets & skills shortages all over Western Nations, it will make it more competitive to attract skilled immigrants.

 

I hope the new government can pull off some decent wage gains, but I think the part they will struggle with is driving the productivity gains needed to make these sustainable and not at the expense of company profitability.

The problem for Labor is the impact of the unions. They want the wage gains but will vigorously oppose the increases to employee productivity needed to justify it.

 

They are lot smarter than you think.... Hawke did it with Accord in the 80s ...if anyone can pull it off it would be labor.

The other mob is not trusted by workers.... given their track record.

 

Stop it lol. Wilmotians, Lethbridge Patkers , Emertons, aaarghh Sounds like an alien race.

 

One of the biggest issue's (from a workers perspective) is that I see more people in management earning 10X plus my wage and they have a secretary and personal assistant yet as far as "working" goes they seem to do very little

Being at the top and "making a decision" shouldn't justify their exorbitant salary, I make decisions and contribute to the company every day and do a load of compliance paperwork also (the last time they didn't "listen" to this lowely worker it resulted in the closure of Botany and cost in the 10's of millions in clean up and EPA fines) yet non of those managers got the sack, no they got awards for handling the response

It hasn't been about the company being profitable since businesses were family owned, these days we are told it's about shareholder profits (A profitable company pays dividends and in turn the share price rises, it's like having a cash flow positive property that goes up in value every year ), when in reality the push for profits is so those in senior roles can get their productivity bonus and extra share allocations

The unions have over many years negotiated my wage down (petrochemical) along with my friends (stevedoring), everywhere I look someone has lost some sort of hard fought for entitlement from long ago that the unions agreed to wipe out to save a few jobs
The union bartered a pay rise for the permanent's at a carpet factory (that I was a casual) while cutting the wages of the casuals (only permanent employees knew and got a vote), 6 weeks later the company sacked the permanent's and went to a casual workforce
Union officials are only in it for one thing, their own jobs, it's a fine line between representing the worker whilst keeping the employer happy ........

 

Its global, we have competition.

Our government told people on certain visas to go home when covid hit. Now we want them back….Good luck

 

The gates are wide open yet nobody is coming here. We won’t see net migration of150k for a long time yet, plenty of better options out there in terms of time and cost.

 

Is there an consideration from an ethical stand point regarding 1st world nations draining 3rd world /developing nations of their best and brightest?

 

Balanced by the consideration from an ethical standpoint regarding denying the best / brightest from choosing where they think they have the best chances of success?

 

You’d be surprised just how few people are capable of making a reasonable risk based decision.

Also, 90% of management time is taken up by dealing with the mess created by the one sociopathic lunatic who lurks within every seemingly normal team.