Prime Minister Scott Morrison has highlighted workforce skills as the “single biggest challenge facing the Australian economy” in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Employer surveys also show it’s a top concern.

Adding to these concerns is an expected 85% fall in net overseas migration in 2020-21 from 2018-19 levels because of COVID-related border closures. The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) has stressed the urgency of increased and more flexible temporary and permanent migration as global competition for skills and talent intensifies in the post-pandemic recovery. Australia also risks losing talented individuals to more attractive destinations.

Federal Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is more optimistic. He says the pandemic hasn’t harmed Australia’s reputation as a migrant destination. At a CEDA livestream discussion yesterday, Hawke said migration would be crucial for Australia’s recovery from the pandemic.

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What is being overlooked in this debate is that, as a recent Productivity Commission report notes, Australia might not really have a skills shortage. Rather, the problem is a skills mismatch.

Why migration matters now

Australia typically relies on immigration for almost two-thirds of its population growth, and skilled migrants are an important source of talent.

COVID-related closures of national and state borders added to the problems of industry sectors that rely on temporary and permanent migrants to overcome skills shortages. Many have had trouble finding workers (e.g. fruit-picking) or will have trouble as the economy recovers (e.g. hospitality, digital and data opportunities).

CEDA recently launched a report calling for an increase in permanent skilled migration. This report and a 2019 CEDA report aim to show recent waves of migrants have not reduced wages or jobs of Australian-born workers.

CEDA’s latest report calls on the federal government to:

1. set up a government-regulated online platform for matching skills to jobs
2. update the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations Codes to ensure people with essential or cutting-edge skills can immigrate
3. be more transparent about how it assesses what occupations are in demand and included on the skilled occupation lists.

CEDA describes the Global Talent Scheme (GTS) as “very restrictive”. Minister Hawke acknowledged post-COVID Australia’s migration policies have to be more flexible and responsive. He pointed to the increased GTS intake of 15,000 spots in 2020-21, a tripling of last year’s allocation.

Yet the shape and make-up of the migration program remain unclear. Questions during yesterday’s discussion elicited few new details.

What are the issues with this approach?

According to the Productivity Commission, the way to modernise and grow the economy is via the three Ps: population, participation and productivity. As well as the population impacts of migration, CEDA claims to be offering solutions for both participation, as skilled migrants have “lower unemployment rates and higher labour-force participation rates”, and productivity, as skilled migrants are younger and contribute to human capital accumulation.

In practice, increased migration works by growing the population, increasing numbers of taxpayers and producing so-called spillover effects in housing, retail and domestic tourism etc.

CEDA cites an Australian National University study that found migrants account for 7% of the average rate of labour productivity growth between 1994–95 and 2007–08. However, the Productivity Commission reports productivity has slowed since the mid-2000s despite high migration.

Evidence indicates employers are not nurturing talent from migration to its full potential. Nearly one in four permanent skilled migrants work in a job beneath their skill level. Research also highlights the need to tackle the disconnect between identified skills shortages and the unwillingness of employers to employ new migrants.

How to fix these problems

The solutions CEDA proposes are largely quick fixes and echo previous recommendations from CEDA and employer groups like the Australian Chamber of Commerce. Stop-gap government measures to help employers fill shortfalls include a 50% wage subsidy for apprentices or trainees and tailored quarantine arrangements for seasonal workers. But the systemic problem of skills matching, leading to underemployment and unemployment, has been neglected.

This problem is not unique to Australia. Migrants do essential work in many countries. Research has found many countries have designated these migrants – including those typically considered “low-skilled” such as crop pickers, care assistants and hospital cleaners – as “key” or “essential” workers whose supply needs to be protected and even expanded during the health emergency.

In Australia, some analysts have pointed to the skills shortage as a policy ruse to distract attention from the lack of infrastructure investment to cope with rapid population growth as well as employers wishing to restrict wages growth.

The problem is worse among international graduates and students – 60% of the latter lost their jobs during the pandemic. Yet they studied in universities and through VET providers that were supposedly providing them with the skills Australian employers need.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has recognised the need to improve skills matching and development. It has called for a more flexible vocational education and training (VET) system that emphasises life-long learning with innovations like micro-apprenticeships. This allows for employees and apprentices to be rapidly trained and regularly upskilled in response to technology and market changes.

This is similar to micro-credentials – qualifications based on smaller blocks of learning. These can formalise soft and hard skills attained at work, such as teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving. They can also help fill skill gaps such as working with big data.

Vocational education and training should focus on skills needed to capitalise on the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

There are other gaps in the CEDA proposals. For example, when the federal government announced its Modern Manufacturing Strategy in October 2020, it recognised that not enough manufacturers have experience in scaling up in areas that provide good returns. Despite a brief mention of data scientists in regard to skilled occupation lists not being updated since 2013, the CEDA report largely focuses on traditional industries.

Our research shows Australia needs to develop new skills in disruptive technologies to capitalise on the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The pandemic has simply added to the urgency of increased collaboration between the higher education and VET sectors, employer organisations, industry and government to deliver more targeted and flexible skills development programs.

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According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), expats stranded abroad will have their residence permits (Iqama), exit and re-entry visas automatically renewed until July 31, 2021.

The General Directorate of Passports has begun automatically renewing these visas at no additional cost to the visa holders, SPA said.

Only expatriates from the 20 countries whose admission into the Kingdom was halted as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak will be allowed residence visa renewals, according to a list released on February 2.

The UAE, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, France, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, the Swiss Confederation, and Turkey are among the 20 countries.

Additionally, the validity of visit visas for travellers from countries whose admission is prohibited because to the COVID-19 epidemic will be extended until July 31.

Saudi Arabia had reported 459,968 Covid-19 instances as of June 8, with 1,261 instances found in the previous 24 hours.

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WASHINGTON (AFP) – Julien Rocher has been able to see his son Zadig, who lives in the United States (US), only once in 15 months since Washington shut the country’s borders over the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s like he has disappeared,” Rocher said.

He is one of thousands separated from spouses, children or grandparents because of the tight lockdown of the country’s frontiers, yet to be lifted despite the widespread distribution of vaccines on both sides of the Atlantic.

Many are pressuring the administration of US President Joe Biden to permit general travel to and from the US, with families spilling their anguish and anger over the forced separations onto social media.

They are particularly angry over Washington’s lack of reciprocity after the European Union (EU) announced on May 20 it would re-open borders to travellers, including Americans, just ahead of the summer season.

Producer of commercial videos who lives in France, Rocher used to see Zadig, 11, who lives in Los Angeles with his mother, each year.

But the boy’s mother doesn’t want him to travel to France out of fear he would not be able to return to the US.

That keeps Zadig separated from his dad as well as a three-year-old half-sister.

“It is hard to maintain family ties over time with such a distance,” Rocher told AFP.

Maintaining a relationship via Zoom is “extremely difficult”, he said.

“I didn’t understand right away the impact on our relationship. But the second summer has arrived and I have the feeling of completely melting down. It’s like he has disappeared.”

When the COVID-19 threat first emerged, the US government closed its borders to travellers from China in January 2020.

Two months later the frontier was closed to people from Canada, most of Europe, Britain and Ireland, and then to Brazil in May 2020.

Earlier this year Biden extended the lockdown to India and South Africa after new, more virulent Covid variants emerged there.

The lockdowns did not affect US citizens and permanent residents returning from abroad.

But it hit tourists, people with temporary work visas, and those with long-stay visas like Zadig.

If they leave it’s not clear they can get back. US consulates have all but shut down visa application process.

And those with visas have to first travel to a third country not on the US ban, like Turkey or Mexico, and quarantine for 14 days – a risk in itself.

Some specific categories of travellers, like students, journalists, and medical workers, can get exceptions to allow them back in the US.

Rocher was able to see his son early this year after he obtained an exception for a business trip to California. Other families have similar experiences.

Phil and Michell White are British citizens who live and work near San Francisco. Each lost their mother this spring.

Neither could travel to see them before they died, or attend the funerals, out of fear they could not return. They had to follow the funerals by streaming video.

“The day before my mother’s funeral, my mother-in-law passed away,” Phil told AFP.

“My wife was able to say goodbye to her mum via FaceTime. I sadly didn’t even have that opportunity.”

Phil White said he felt like a victim of “discrimination” when the American employees of his company are free to travel back and forth to Britain without problem, while he and his wife cannot.

The US border policy is aimed at tourists, he noted, not people like him.

“I completely understand that the US don’t want stag parties from Manchester going to Las Vegas, but our situation is different,” he said.

The restrictions apply to thousands of people with permits to work in the US.

Brazilian Ana Luiza Farias works in corporate governance in Washington, and has not seen her family for a year.

She has an H1B work visa and is not covered by the exceptions to COVID-19 travel.

That makes leaving for a visit back home risky, and so she has remained in the US.

“Whenever I go to Brazil I have to request a visa at the consulate,” she said.

“I am still authorised to work and live in the US, but my entry visa has expired, and I can’t get a new one because the consulate is closed.”

French political scientist at Brookings Institution Celia Belin called the situation “Kafkaesque” for Europeans in the US, in an opinion piece for Le Monde.

“The travel restrictions have become a regime of discrimination,” she wrote.

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The German authorities have announced that the country will be lifting its travel warning for most countries previously imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Such a decision was revealed by the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, which announced that the lifting of travel warning will help to bring back normality in the country as the number of citizens who have undergone the COVID-19 vaccination process is continuously increasing.

However, the Minister pointed out that the restrictions will remain in place for all countries where the Coronavirus variants are still widely spread.

The decision to lift pandemic travel warning is expected to be effective from July 1, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

“The improvement of the epidemiological situation in Germany and large parts of Europe, the advancing vaccinations and the introduction of the Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) on July 1, 2021, make travel easier. Therefore, the travel warnings will also be adjusted from July 1,” the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reads.

In addition, it was announced that countries that have registered 50-200 infection cases per 100,000 residents during the seven last days would no longer be considered as “high incidence areas.”

In contrast, the restriction will remain in place for countries registering high numbers of COVID-19 cases.

Currently, Germany’s virus variant areas of countries, also known as countries where mutations are being widely spread and transmitted at a fast rate, include Botswana, Brazil, Eswatini, India, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Uruguay, and Northern Ireland.

The UK is also placed on the virus variant areas list, meaning that arrivals from the UK are banned from entering Germany due to the high rates of COVID-19 mutations.

All persons who are permitted to enter Germany after staying for more than ten days in a virus variant area must present a negative COVID-19 test result, proof of vaccination, or proof of recovery.

Following the Ministry’s announcement, it was also highlighted that arrivals from the EU/Schengen Area countries and regions, and third countries that are exempted from the travel restrictions, will still be allowed to enter the country without being subject to travel restrictions. Nonetheless, everyone is advised to be exceptionally cautious.

Up to this date, Germany has registered 3,714,969 Coronavirus infection cases and 89,834 deaths. The country has administered at least 60,105,411 COVID-19 vaccine doses, with a rate of around 737,242 doses per day during the last week.

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Cape Town - The Department of Home Affairs is working with the Treasury to get exemption from having to use the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) for its online services to solve its IT problems.

The exemption would allow the department to source IT services privately.

Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this in response to a query from provincial premier and constitutional committee chairperson Ricardo Mackenzie during a debate at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

Motsoaledi said: “Our original sin at Home Affairs is the IT system. Every day when I go to work, this is the original sin I am trying to resolve.

“We did away with the manual system and introduced the live capture system about eight years ago.

“We are going to make inroads because we have actually identified why for instance the SA Revenue Service (Sars) doesn’t suffer from systems down like we do. We have actually identified it is because Sars has been exempted from getting these services through Sita. We are working with the Treasury to do the same.”

Mackenzie said that communities across the Western Cape were continuing to experience slow and poor service delivery from Home Affairs.

“Community members of my constituency in Mitchells Plain brought a number of issues including consistent errors in ID documents, loss of documentation by the department and delays in issuing visas and processing residency for foreign nationals.”

He also said that the retention/refugee letters issuing section of Home Affairs had yet to reopen since it was closed in March last year and that this meant people were often incorrectly being deemed illegal in this country.

Mackenzie said he would continue to monitor the situation and would hold Motsoaledi to his word.

Earlier in the year Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs also said it was disappointed in the department’s failure to resolve its IT challenges.

The committee said it was concerned that the IT issues continue to hamper the department’s ability to deliver quality services and that the long queues at the department’s offices pose a high risk of being Covid-19 super-spreader sources.

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