Skills shortage could force changes in Australian visa rules

Australia, 8th December: Australian immigration department might feel compelled to introduce changes in the rules for Australia 457 visas and a few other Australian work visa categories.

This has been revealed by the findings of the Candle Skills Index based on the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) figures for forecasting trends of the labor market.

As per the predictions by the index, the IT sector of Australia will grow by around 20,000 by the year 2015 resulting in a shortage of 2,700 workers.

And this shortage of required IT professionals will be the result of thousands of highly experienced IT workers reaching retirement along with a significant fall in the number of applicants applying for IT courses in the universities.

According to the report, there has been a shortage of 3200 skilled IT professionals in Australia in the month of September 2010.

And the demand for IT professionals is going to soar by around 13,000 in the coming 12 months, stated Linda Trevor, executive general manager of Candle.

Hence, the nation will experience an acute shortage of required skilled computing professionals unless efforts are made by the Australian government to introduce changes in Australian 457 visa rules, asserted Ms. Trevor.

And the skilled shortage will result in an increase of around 5 to 10 percent in the average salary in the eastern states in the coming one year, Ms. Trevor added.

The state of WA(Western Australia) would experience a hike of as much as 20 percent in the average salary for the IT professionals in the next one year, the report maintains.

Australia will find it difficult to find the required talent for meeting the demands of the new projects in the nation like the new IT banking platforms, e-health initiatives and the NBN (National Broadband Network), stated Robert Olivier, director of global market intelligence, Advantage Resourcing.

Hence, it is high time to act now for those wanting to change their jobs as the employers in Australia want to have new work teams ready in January 2011.

Australian 457 visa category is the most sought-after visa category for international workers and employers in Australia can sponsor visas to foreigners for working in Australia on temporary basis.