While a lack of employment opportunities - and a third-world exchange rate with the US dollar - are often blamed for the steady stream of educated Australians leaving the country to work, the Federal Government has long held that due to its migration policies the country has achieved an overall net 'brain gain'.
According to FASTS executive director Toss Gascoigne, the Federal Government's attempts to attract highly educated business migrants to Australia have not necessarily lead to a direct increase in the overall level of skills within the economy.
-One of the difficulties is that the statistics are so incomplete," Gascoigne said. -The bald facts that more educated people are coming into the country than are leaving may be right, however, we don't know to what use their skills are being put. Many have difficulties with English, difficulties fitting into the Australian workforce, or difficulties getting their qualifications recognised."
Gascoigne points out that with past waves of migration the expectation has been on the achievements of the second generation, rather than on new migrants.
-There is no doubt talented people are arriving in Australia, but the question is what these people end up doing with their talent," Gascoigne said.
The letter, drafted of behalf of FASTS calls for a tracking survey of the new arrivals to monitor their professional progress over a five year period.
-The purpose would be to discover whether they had found employment in their areas of specialisation, and at what level," said the letter.
Essentially the study would aim -to establish how long it takes professionally-qualified migrants to find positions in Australia which accurately reflect their qualifications and experience".
While previous studies have indicated a net gain in the overall number of qualified individuals coming into Australia, little is known about their ultimate professional destination.
A 2001 study Skilled Labour: Gains and Losses, prepared by Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research was widely promoted by the Federal Government for dispelling the brain drain myth.
Although the report registered a 3.2 percent gain for computing professionals, it also conceded that a -lack of qualitative data on movers leaves open the possibility that Australia is losing high quality residents and replacing them with lower quality settlers and visitors".
The reports authors also point out that the data base also -lacks qualitative information on the occupational characteristics of movers, such as level of education and job experience". Furthermore it fails to indicate whether incoming professionals are successful in gaining employment in their field of expertise.
The office for the Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has yet to respond to the FASTS letter.
Interesting and timely article. I am in the USA, looking to migrate to AUS. and I have been researching the area, and opportunities. It has been difficult to find something in the Network hardware side that is available.
If the government were to sponsor, or even to assist migrants in finding a position, the "brain drain" would be less.