Skill Shortages - it's mostly BS

I keep hearing the nonsense that serious "skill shortages" exist in this country – most recently from someone who shall remain nameless - but who should know better.

Those people who are pushing the "skill shortages" barrow are really just vested interests who are trying to gain an advantage – usually at the expense of the rest of us.

So who are these vested interests?

Well mainly it is big business – often supported by small business – who have been *geed* up by the industry associations – which in turn have been setup by big business.

And often these vested interests have been aided and abetted by the recruitment industry – because these people live on the fees generated as labour moves around.

Big business has been driving the "skill shortages" agenda for a few years now – it’s all designed to drive down the cost of labour and to put pressure on government to allow the importation of foreign workers – often under the 457 visa.

The theory is that if business can control the importation of workers then they can more closely control who they bring in and at what cost. From the business perspective this is all about control over the supply and cost of foreign labour – which can then be used to set the benchmark for the cost of local labour.

There is also much greater opportunity to exploit vulnerable foreign workers as they often owe their employment, income prospects and immigration status to their business sponsor.

Who is looking after these workers?

The issue for me is that there has been no "expose" of what is going on – neither governments nor the media have done anything to raise awareness - why?