Migrants filling the skills shortages in crucial sectors

As skills shortages continue to affect certain sectors across Australia, migrants from overseas are filling the gaps and uplifting the workforce around them despite the narrative surrounding immigration.

HR Leader recently spoke to Aman Sethi, founder and managing director of JICS Australia, about the skills shortage that is affecting major industries across Australia. Sethi shared some insight on how it just “makes sense” for businesses to recruit skilled migrants to fill the gaps by way of business sponsorship.

Sethi first broke down how the sponsorship system operates, which, according to the Australian government statistics, there were 51,610 applications granted in the sponsor industry in 2023–24 to June 2024.

“[One of them is called] SPS, so Standard Business Sponsorship, and that’s basically getting approval from the government to say that you are allowed to be a sponsor and your business is at a level and kind of profitability, revenue, et cetera, and you are able to sponsor people. Getting that approval is the first step,” Sethi said.

“The second step is getting the approval to get that specific occupation or role from overseas. So, that’s about proving that this role is niche enough, that there isn’t any local talent available, and therefore there is a need to sponsor this role. [Therefore, that] second step is getting that approval from the government to be able to sponsor for a specific role.”

“The third is getting the approval for the actual person that you’ve chosen. It’s a three-step process. [It goes] the company approval, the role approval, and then the specific individual approval. And that’s kind of how it works.”

In terms of the pros and cons of the sponsorship process, an increase in the talent pool is a clear benefit.

“The pros of the employee sponsorship is, obviously, it increases your talent pool, increases the calibre of person that you can outreach to. And when the skills are just not present in the Australian market, it’s a case of ‘do you put someone who’s not quite skilled into that role, or do you want someone who can actually perform the role at a high level?’

“That’s where I think, obviously, the benefit comes in. In terms of the process as well, it is getting more streamlined. The rules have been loosened, and they’re moving towards loosening the rules and making it easier for companies to sponsor. And it’s relatively faster compared to the independent skilled migration side of the fence. Those are some of the pros,” Sethi said.

“Some of the cons, [can be that] there is a cost involved. There is that element to it. There is a bit of navigation. When the person is overseas, you have to coordinate. Sometimes, they’re bringing their family over. There are logistics that need to be organised. It’s a big decision for some people from that level.”

Skills shortages in crucial sectors have been a topic of discussion, with the decision to bring in skilled migrants somewhat becoming a contentious discussion as narratives around immigration continue to arise in toxicity. Regardless of these debates, skilled migrants are already a focal point in many sectors and offer businesses numerous benefits.

“In terms of going overseas, there is a skills shortage in certain areas within Australia. So not in everything, obviously, [but industries like] nursing or aged care or specific areas within technology or engineering or manufacturing, there’s definitely a shortage of skilled labour hire. And I think that’s where going overseas makes sense, and that’s where businesses historically have been doing that,” Sethi said.

Overall, as industry-specific businesses struggle to attract workers in a limited talent pool, skilled migrant workers can offer that relief through business sponsorships. It’s a pipeline that has been around for a while and will continue as time goes on.