List of the best and worst jobs for immigrants

Immigrants travelling to a new country have it hard enough with cultural, language, and social barriers making it hard to assimilate.

To help ease the burden, Immigration to Australia conducted a survey to discover the best and worst jobs for immigrants in Australia. The results found the top three and lowest three across 17 key industries.

Top industries

By far, the top industry was mining. Despite the risk of injury, and even death, mining was chosen by 51 per cent of respondents as the top job for immigrants.

According to Safe Work Australia, in 2021, there were six miner fatalities and 117 serious injuries. However, mining also topped the list of the 17 occupations presented for salary, with an average of $2,497 per week.

Coming in second was construction, picked by 32 per cent of voters. Trailing at 29 per cent was electricity, gas, water and waste services.

The worst industries

The worst industry in Australia was identified as retail, which also happened to place second last on the salary list, with an average weekly salary of $800.

Forty-six per cent of respondents chose retail as the worst trade for immigrants. This could be due to the abuse that these workers face, as according to a survey, 88 per cent of retail employees have been abused in the space of a year. This can lead to a deterioration of health and wellbeing.

Accommodation and food services was a close second, with 45 per cent agreeing it was the worst, and the third was arts and recreation services, chosen by 33 per cent of respondents.

Founder and chief executive of Immigration to Australia Alon Rajic commented: “While there is some correlation between best and worst industries and the wages these industries pay, it appears that a good proportion of Australians agree that some high-paying industries are not worth working in due to difficulty of their job tasks.

“We believe this local insight will prove valuable to the many immigrants moving to Australia this year, and who have little understanding of Australian industries, working conditions and salaries.”

Interestingly, while mining took the top spot, it also gathered a considerable number of votes for the worst spot. In Western Australia, which Immigration to Australia said contains one-third of the country’s mines, 35 per cent voted mining as the worst industry.

Jack Campbell

Jack is the editor at HR Leader.