Skills shortage and floods in Australia

News - Migration Written by Administrator Thursday, 27 January 2011 17:31

A recent report by CommSec reveals that flood-affected areas may suffer laggard growth and a hampered rebuilding process due to continued shortages of skilled workers leading to calls from some for an increased immigration intake to cover the shortfall.

The report, titled State of the States, compares economic growth in all states and territories against the average or ‘normal’ growth rate for each area over the past 10 years.

The current pace of growth was also considered, but with the caveat that it may misrepresent the performance of individual states and territories over the long run.

The ACT and Western Australia are outperforming the rest of Australia on growth rates above 20 per cent, with Victoria and NSW lagging behind at rates below 15 per cent.

Queensland was listed as third at 17.4 per cent, but the report said the floods and on-going problems will continue to constrain the economy in the short term, with the economy likely to receive a boost from the reconstruction effort later this year.

But CommSec senior economist Craig James said demand for skilled workers was growing because of the mining boom and that Queensland's reconstruction could stall if the impending labour shortage was not averted. Mr James said that it is up to the Federal Government to boost immigration numbers and allow skilled migrants to take up the needed job positions to avoid bottlenecks forming in mining and construction projects around the country.

But entrepreneur Dick Smith, self-styled opponent of a so-called ‘Big Australia’ said acquiescing to Mr James’ pleas would only benefit wealthy business owners, to the detriment of the rest of society. He said the increased revenue from enlarged mining operations should be foresworn, leaving the mineral reserves to future use for generations to come.

Mr Smith said that businesses could still earn a profit by reducing waste and increasing efficiencies in a stable population economy.