Smaller Firms Depend on 457 Visas for Workers
Reeling under high-wage demand and lack of skilled Australian workers,
resource firms in Western Australia rely on the 457 visa program to fill the
skill gap. New research by the Edith Cowan University (ECU) finds that small
firms in the region have a tough time competing against large businesses to
attract and retain local workers. These findings come at a time when the
Australian government is reviewing provisions of the 457 visa program to
safeguard it against exploitation.
The findings of the study are based on intensive
interviews carried out by researchers from ECU’s Centre for Innovative Practice.
As part of the study, researchers interviewed 10 managers of small-sized resource
firms and 20 workers employed under the 457 visa program. The objective of the
study was to ascertain how and why the 457 visas were used by companies in the
sector.
Researchers found that, although majority of the workers
in small-sized firms were Australian citizens, managers were increasingly
unable to meet the higher salary expectations of local employees. With growing
demand for skilled workers in resource-based firms of Western Australia,
managers of smaller companies also found it increasing difficult to retain
experienced staff.
“That’s part of the problem in smaller firms -
they don’t have the resources, they can’t compete in the same way,” says Rowena
Barrett lead author of the report.
The study found that small businesses continually
struggle to recruit skilled workers. Despite investing thousands of dollars on
advertisements, business managers complain that they receive only few
responses.
“What we found was that these firms couldn’t get
Australians to do the jobs,” says Professor Barrett.
“So it’s not as though a migrant worker was
displacing an Australian worker, they just weren’t available,” she points out.
Several managers told researchers that wage increase
for workers in larger firms had a cascading effect, with higher wage demands
being made by inexperienced and less-experienced workers.
Elaborating the crisis, the study quotes an
engineering firm manager: “We find people have grown with the boom and they
have all of a sudden become prima donnas and they only work for these high
wages.”
Smaller firms in Australia have often been criticised
for preferring to recruit workers aboard, rather than employ local staff.
Managers, however, told researchers that, local workers are unreliable and tend
to switch jobs even for marginal hike in salaries.
Even Indian firms in Australia, particularly in
the IT sector have been severely criticised for preferring to recruit Indian
workers under the 457 visa program over local Australian workers.
As the Australian government reviews the 457 visa
program, Professor Barrett feels modifications should not be such that it damages
the prospects for smaller firms to attract workers at lower wages and compete
against larger firms.
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December 12, 2013
October 25, 2013
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