According to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, immigration has contributed to increases in:
- the amount of people in Australia who possess a tertiary qualification (this has grown from 51% to 59%).
- the number of people in the country between 15 and 64 years of age.
- 66% of all migrants who travel to Australia are in possession of “academic or trade qualifications” (compared to 56% of those born here).
These initiatives have seen strong emphasis placed on skills-based sponsorship in order to give Australian businesses the opportunity to gain access to skilled workers when the local labour market is unable to meet demand.
On the whole, an advanced education seems to provide more employment opportunities – with the unemployment rate for those with a qualification in 2011 at 3.4 per cent, while those without tertiary recognition displayed a rate of 7.3 per cent.
While the sponsorship focus has been on making skilled labour more readily available, migration agents are likely to see an increase in the number of spouse and dependent visa requests received.