Staffing gaps in many sectors of the Australian economy have compelled the country to lift the cap on permanent migration for the first time in a decade, according to the BBC.
Australia will take up to 195 000 people this financial year – an increase of 35 000.
There are more than 480 000 job vacancies across the country, but with unemployment at an almost 50-year low, employers are struggling to fill the gaps, the BBC reports.
The hospitality, healthcare, agriculture and skilled trade industries have been particularly hard hit.
The government says that workers from countries including China, India and the UK – Australia’s top sources of migration – are needed to make up for workforce shortages.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said: ‘Our focus is always Australian jobs first… but the impact of Covid has been so severe that even if we exhaust every other possibility, we will still be many thousands of workers short, at least in the short term.’
The BBC reports that permanent migration rose to about 190 000 per year in the mid-2010s before falling in 2017 as immigration became a flashpoint for political debate.
But business and union figures – as well as political opponents – have called for more migrants.
[Image: Monika Häfliger from Pixabay]