A labour market for the resources sector – what are Enterprise Migration Agreements?

Image source: Western Australia Department of Mines and Petroleum

The use of temporary overseas workers to fill skills gaps in the Australian labour market has been commonplace over the last two decades. The subclass 457 visa was introduced by the Howard Government in 1996 specifically in order to meet the needs of employers looking for timely and flexible access to labour where it could not be found locally. There were 90 400 subclass 457 primary visa holders in Australia at 30 April 2012.

The Immigration Minister’s recent announcement that an Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA), facilitating the recruitment of temporary overseas workers, had been granted to the Roy Hill project in the Pilbara appears to have taken many observers by surprise. It shouldn’t have.

Working holiday makers and Australia’s hospitality and horticulture industries



Image source: http://www.balonne.qld.gov.au

 Reciprocal working holiday arrangements in Australia have been in place for many years. Working holiday makers have traditionally played an important role in supplying short term workers for the tourism, hospitality and horticulture industries in both urban and regional settings.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) acknowledges that the working holiday program is ‘a strong contributor of supplementary labour for industries needing short-term or seasonal workers, such as construction, hospitality and farming'. DIAC also anticipates that the number of working holiday makers and the demand for temporary entrants to address skill shortages will continue to grow. After falling in 2009–10 largely due to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), visa grants are again on the rise with 192 900 Working Holiday (subclass 417) and Work and Holiday (subclass 462) granted to young people in 2010–11—many of whom subsequently found work in seasonal horticulture and tourism-related jobs that employers sometimes find hard to fill locally.