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Australia is facing a serious skills shortage right now across a wide range of industries, including agronomy to youth work and hundreds of careers in between. When squeezing through busy campus cafes or finding a seat in a packed lecture theatre, it can be hard to believe that employers are struggling to find skilled workers to fill their job openings. But with 29% of occupations in national shortage, the deficit has become a real problem for Australia.
Alongside mentoring programs and extra apprenticeships, one short-term solution to the skills shortage stands out: skilled migration. So, what is skilled migration exactly, and how could it help address the skills shortage in Australia? With the employment expertise of Deakin Business School senior lecturer Dr Melissa Parris, we take a closer look.
‘When we talk about a skills shortage, what we are referring to is a shortage of people with the skills required for particular occupations or job roles – or, at least, employers find it difficult to fill those job roles,’ says Parris. ‘Put simply, demand for people to fill particular job roles exceeds the supply (or availability) of those individuals.’
According to Parris, skills shortages can be both national and location specific. For instance, Australia as a whole might need tax accountants or audiologists, but general practitioners are in shortage in regional areas only.
As the recent Jobs and Skills Report notes, skills shortages are complex: ‘Skill shortages are not merely a function of high demand – they reflect deeper systemic misalignments’. While Parris agrees that the topic is complex and that we don’t always know what causes skills shortages in Australia, she says there are usually three overarching reasons:
Currently, there is a skills shortage in Australia – one that’s been described as ‘a skills challenge not seen since the 1960s’. In the latest Occupation Shortage List produced by the Australian Government, 344 occupations are classified as experiencing a shortage – either at the national level, or specific to regional or metropolitan areas.
As the Occupational Shortage List Key Findings Report shows, 29% of occupations are currently experiencing skills shortages – an improvement on a record low of 36% in 2023. The report also suggests that 139 occupations have been in ‘persistent shortage’ from 2021-2025, with roles in construction, engineering and automotive trades among the most affected.
As Parris suggests, those training, retention and suitability gaps are largely the reason why Australia has a skills shortage. And while the government hopes domestic initiatives like the National Skills Agreement will give Australian skills a boost, there is another idea to fill skills shortages: migration.
According to Parris, some types of skills shortages can be alleviated through migration – at least in the short term. ‘Permanent skilled migration in Australia particularly plays a role for occupations impacted by a long training gap,’ she says. ‘Those who come to Australia as independent skilled migrants have the existing qualifications aligned with identified occupation shortages.’
In 2024, the Albanese Labor Government announced it was making changes to visa restrictions in Australia, creating a temporary Skills in Demand visa linked to its Core Skills Occupation list. The idea is to ‘provide access to temporary skilled migration for 456 occupations’, easing the current Australian skills shortage by bringing in migrant workers who already have the training and experience needed to fill much-needed roles.
Australia doesn’t just have a skills shortage – it has a housing shortage, too.
At current rates, the government predicts that by 2029 Australia will fall 262,000 dwellings short of its targets. As Minister Tony Burke noted when announcing those skilled visa reforms, the goal of increasing skilled migration is ‘an important step to attract qualified workers to help build more homes.’ In other words, Australia needs more skilled workers in the construction sector to build more homes, and the government is going to use skilled migration to do it.
Besides housing, the government hopes to fill other labour market gaps with skilled migrant workers, too, including regional agriculture and specialist medical streams.
Skilled migration to Australia appears to be one way to help ease Australia’s skills shortage – but it can’t be the only solution.
‘Skilled migration remains an important contributor to Australia’s productivity,’ says Parris. ‘However, solutions need to be sought on multiple fronts. This will require a focus on each of three “gaps” we know about, as well as seeking to better understand currently unexplained shortages.’
The current government, for its part, shares Parris’ perspective. In its 2023 National Strategy for the Care and Support Economy roadmap, it notes that the care and support industry needs skilled migrant workers, but also lists job attractiveness, growing First Nations skills and funding more higher education opportunities.
While the report only focuses on one industry, it’s fair to say that a wide-ranging approach to the skills shortage will be important for many occupations. While the long-term forecast is still uncertain, skilled migration represents one practical way to help fill vital roles in Australia in the immediate future.
