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The Two-Step Australian Immigration Policy and its Impact on Immigrant Employment Outcomes

Author

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  • Gregory, Bob

    (Australian National University)

Abstract

Three decades ago most immigrants to Australia with work entitlements came as permanent settlers. Today the annual allocation of temporary visas, with work entitlements, outnumbers permanent settler visas by a ratio of three to one. The new environment, with so many temporary visa holders, has led to a two-step immigration policy whereby an increasing proportion of immigrants come first as a temporary immigrant, to work or study, and then seek to move to permanent status. Around one half of permanent visas are allocated on-shore to those who hold temporary visas with work rights. The labour market implications of this new two-step system are substantial. Immigrants from non-English speaking countries (NES), are affected most. In their early years in Australia, they have substantially reduced full-time employment and substantially increased part-time employment, usually while attending an education institution. Three years after arrival one third of NES immigrants are now employed part-time which, rather than unemployment, is becoming their principal pathway to full-time labour market integration. Surprisingly, little has changed for immigrants from English speaking countries (ES).

Suggested Citation

  • Gregory, Bob, 2014. "The Two-Step Australian Immigration Policy and its Impact on Immigrant Employment Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 8061, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8061
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Clarke, Andrew & Skuterud, Mikal, 2014. "Immigrant Skill Selection and Utilization: A Comparative Analysis of Australia, Canada, and the United States," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2014-41, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 22 Sep 2014.
    2. Nguyet Thi Khanh, Cao, 2020. "Determinants of the decision of international students to remain to work in Japan after graduation," Discussion Paper Series 212, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, revised Mar 2021.
    3. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel L. McFadden & Abigail Payne & Jason Potts & Robert Gregory & Wade E. Martin, 2020. "Roundtable Discussion On Immigration," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 7-29, January.
    4. Andrew Clarke & Ana Ferrer & Mikal Skuterud, 2019. "A Comparative Analysis of the Labor Market Performance of University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States: Does Policy Matter?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages 443-490.
    5. Kacey DOUGLAS, 2016. "Raja Junankar, Economics of Immigration: Immigration and the Australian Economy," Journal of Economic and Social Thought, KSP Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 317-320, June.
    6. Wen Ci & Feng Hou & René Morissette, 2018. "Acquisition of permanent residence by temporary foreign workers in Canada: a panel study of labour market outcomes before and after the status transition," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, December.
    7. Richard V. Burkhauser & Markus H. Hahn & Matthew Hall & Nicole Watson, 2016. "Australia Farewell: Predictors of Emigration in the 2000s," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(2), pages 197-215, April.
    8. Roger Wilkins & Mark Wooden, 2014. "Two Decades of Change: The Australian Labour Market, 1993–2013," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 47(4), pages 417-431, December.
    9. Ana Ferrer & Mikal Skuterud & Andrew Clarke, 2018. "A Comparative Analysis of the Labour Market Performance of University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States," Working Papers 1807, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised 02 Jan 2018.
    10. Andrew Clarke & Mikal Skuterud, 2016. "A comparative analysis of immigrant skills and their utilization in Australia, Canada, and the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 849-882, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigrant part-time employment; fee paying foreign students; temporary employment visas; labour market integration; immigrants; employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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