OPINION: There are skilled workers and employers looking for them--but how do we match the two up?

Finally, the federal government is coming to terms with the myth of an ICT skills shortage in Australia. In a recent press release, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Tony Abbott announced that the number of ICT specialisations listed as scarce has been halved. As a result, the Government's Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) has reduced from 26 to 12 the skills that would give intending migrants preferential treatment.

That so many migrants with varying proficiency in ICT were given preference at the head of the migration queue over the last couple of years while the ranks of unemployed ICT professionals here swelled reflects a very short-sighted view of current market conditions. Minister Abbott's recognition that we should stem the flow of "imports" is welcome, but the revolving door the Government created in a rush of expediency to meet an assumed need, continues to swing.

Little has been said, for example, about the 457 temporary business visa which, from July 1, 2002, allowed employers to import staff without having to prove no suitable candidate existed locally. Estimates of the number of these visas allocated is as high as 10,000.

In his release, the Minister claims that there were 9500 ICT vacancies listed in the previous fortnight on the five largest Australian online recruitment sites, and uses this to support his claim that while unemployment among ICT professionals "has picked up somewhat", it's still below the national unemployment rate.

But how many of these online jobs represent double or treble dipping by recruiters, a number of whom all list the same job trying the secure the placement fee for it? If there are so many jobs out there, how come we see so many recruitment agencies going to the wall because their list of available candidates far outweighs real opportunities?

The fact is there are opportunities, and while the number of available jobs has slowed, qualified graduates and mature-age specialists particularly are finding it near impossible to get positions.

So the dichotomy continues: there are plenty of professionals available with the required skills and organisations looking for them, but the problem of matching supply with demand persists. This is not peculiar to Australia; the US, Germany, and other countries reacted to the dot-com hysteria before Y2K to throw open visa requirements to encourage a flood of skilled itinerant ICT workers, mainly from the sub-continent.

Many debated then, and still do, that this was an exercise not so much in labour supply as labour re-engineering, serving corporate self-interest at board level by driving down salaries and conditions by creating a cheap labour surplus of people who would work anywhere, for less.

The reality in these countries, and in Australia, is that we can fill any job with people already available--there's no need to go shopping for them overseas.

At about the same time as Tony Abbott was releasing his views, Michael Rawding, Asia-Pacific and Japan president of Microsoft, was here encouraging its Australian customers to send their software development offshore--to India. Microsoft, he said, has a strong relationship with software companies operating out of India and would be happy to help get development work on Microsoft platforms from here to its technical partners there.

The door keeps swinging.

So how to help match demand and supply here? Increasingly businesses that seek ICT people are demanding an exact fit to a job description based on specific technical and industry experience.

Whether the job template is framed by an HR person without ICT knowledge can be put aside for the moment: the fact remains that everybody concerned about the long-term development of technical skills must work to reshape the skills profile of those looking for jobs. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the upgrading of skills is the far more satisfactory solution for both the individual and the potential employer.

Unless a bigger investment is made in the continuing development of a hugely valuable professional resource, Australia's chances of staying even within sight of international competitors will wither by the day.

Richard Hogg is National president of the Australian Computer Society (ACS). The ACS is the recognised association for Information Technology (IT) professionals, attracting a membership (over 16,000) from all levels of the IT industry and providing a wide range of services. A member of the Australian Council of Professions, the ACS is the guardian of professional ethics and standards in the IT industry, with a commitment to the wider community to ensure the beneficial use of IT.

Visit this page for other ACS articles published by ZDNet Australia.

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