Student visas 'used as back door'

FOREIGN workers are taking jobs from young Australians by using student or backpacker visas as a "back door" to work here, study findings claim.

Monash University demographer Bob Birrell, who heads the Centre for Population and Urban Research, wants the Gillard government to slow its "full-throttle" immigration program until Australia's economy recovers.

"Ferocious competition" from nearly a million temporary migrants, including students, backpackers and short-term workers, is fueling Australia's youth unemployment," Professor Birrell warns in a provocative study to be released today.

"Though allegedly here for various educational, holiday and cultural exchange purposes, large numbers are primarily in Australia to work," the report says.

"... the system is being navigated by people `jumping the queue' in order to obtain permanent residency.

"Employer sponsorship is increasingly being used as a backdoor entry method, which enables some employers to get a competitive advantage and some migrants to evade the much tougher entry rules applied to points-tested migrants."

The Monash study shows that 58,000 new jobs were created in the year to August, but 100,000 migrants arrived and found work during the same period.

Youth unemployment has soared 80 per cent in the 20 to 24-year age group since the start of the economic downturn, rising from 4.5 per cent in June 2008 to 8.1 per cent in June this year.

At the same time, the number of foreigners with work rights, but not permanent residency, has grown 4 per cent.

The figure does not include New Zealanders, who do not need a visa to work here.

Professor Birrell says too many foreign workers are competing against young Australians for first-time jobs - such as stacking supermarket shelves, retail sales or cleaning - in the big cities.

"The immigration settings are all based on boom conditions and there's been no adjustment for the dramatic slowdown in the work market," he said yesterday.

"Young people in particular are being swamped by new entrants, particularly in parts of Melbourne and Sydney."

Youth unemployment has soared 80 per cent in the 20 to 24-year age group since the start of the economic downturn, while the number of foreigners with work rights has grown 4 per cent. Source: Herald Sun

Professor Birrell served on the Keating Labor government's National Population Council and helped review the Howard Coalition government's skilled migration program in 2006.

His latest research reveals that just a quarter of the "457" visas issued last financial year were granted to the mining industry.

Temporary work visas were also given to 1560 foreign cooks, 2150 project administrators and 1440 marketing specialists.

The Monash study estimates that between a third and half of the foreign students in Australia - who can work 40 hours a fortnight - are subsequently granted another visa, such as a 457.

Most temporary migrants hail from India, China and the UK, the latest Immigration Department data shows.

The number of "working holidaymakers" has surged by 15 per cent in the past three years to 223,000, as backpackers from the UK, Ireland and France flock to Australia in search of work.

The global financial crisis has also triggered a 23 per cent jump in the number of foreigners sponsored to work in Australia for up to four years on a 457 business visa, with most coming from Britain, India, Ireland, The Philippines and the US.

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