Hordes of Irish youths flooded Australia in 2023 … but experts say we’d be worse off without them

A record increase of Irish migrants is having a surprising impact on Australia, experts in the field say.

A record wave of Irish migrants on working holiday visas isn’t leading to issues with Australian jobs or housing, two experts in the field have declared.

Instead, they believe Australia would be far worse off without them.

Citing Ireland’s world-leading trade apprenticeship schemes, CEO of the Migration Institute of Australia, Helen Duncan, said most Irish migrants on working holidays come to Australia well-equipped to fill currently critical skills shortages.

“A lot of Irish who come here on working holiday visas get jobs pretty easily because a lot of them actually are incredibly skilled,” she told news.com.au.

“The last time that many Irish came to Australia was during the mining boom (mid-late 2000s), and I don’t know what Australia would have done without them.”

The number of occupations with workers in short supply jumped to 332 in 2023 from 286 in 2022, according to Jobs and Skills Australia’s annual skills priority list, with the bleak report coming amid near-record low levels of unemployment.

“Irish migrants can immediately go into a job in construction quite often, or mining, which is the areas that we really need them,” Ms Duncan said.

“So they come really highly skilled on working holiday visas, and then they tend to get into the employer-sponsored program.

“Australia has had the advantage of a really well-skilled, hard-working group of people at the time we need it as well.”

Employer-sponsored visas allow skilled overseas workers to live and work in Australia for their nominating Australian employer for an extended period rather than the six-month expiry dates on working holiday visas.

Experts say there is no evidence that Irish migrants on working holiday visas are taking Australian jobs or housing. Picture: Floss Adams.

Ms Duncan expects, based on the past mining boom, “a good portion” of working holiday visa holders would seek to apply for sponsorship visas and stay longer.

“I would say a good portion of them, based on what happened last time, would seek to stay longer on some sort of employer-sponsored visa.

“But those visas are fairly restrictive as to who can be sponsored, so some have no choice but to go back (to Ireland).”

Yesterday, news.com.au revealed more than 21,000 Irish citizens were granted working holiday visas in Australia in the 12 months leading up to July 2023, making the highest recorded number in more than 16 years.

Between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, the Australian Department of Home Affairs granted 21,525 working holiday visas to Irish citizens, more than double the previous year’s allocation of 10,491.

Between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, 8,878 working holiday visas were granted to Irish citizens, while 11,077 visas were granted between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019.

Ireland was only exceeded by the United Kingdom (38,177 granted, up 17.0 per cent) and France (26,896 granted, up 12.0 per cent).

Associate Professor Anna Boucher, a global migration expert from the University of Sydney, agreed there was no evidence to support public commentary that Australian job availability would be impacted.

They claim that Australia would be far worse off without them, as they are highly skilled and fill critical skills shortages in areas like construction and mining.

“I’ve done some research on the relationship between immigration and unemployment, and at the macro level, migrants are not taking Aussies’ jobs,” she told news.com.au.

“There’s no study that shows that in Australia; if you look at the entire Australian labour market, and you look at net overseas migration, there’s not a clear causal relationship.”

Prof Boucher’s research instead backed in the field experience of Ms Duncan.

“(The Irish) are probably not going to be displacing Australian workers – they might be actually complimenting them,” she added.

Evidence is also lacking to any perceived potential of an impact on the housing and rental market, though Prof Boucher urged issues of racism could arise if such rhetoric goes unchecked.

“When resources are more scarce, which is what’s happening in Australia now, especially with housing, and you have diversity, then that’s when racism increases,” she said.

“So it has to be very well managed by governments.

“It’s very easy to blame.”

It was Ms Duncan’s understanding a lot of working holiday visas head to regional Australia or other parts where the housing market is under less strain.

“I suspect it’s tough for some of them, but they’re here on a working holiday visa after all, so they tend not to put down roots like a 25-year-old Australian would want to.

“They’re much more mobile, they’ve got friends, they can sleep on their couch and move on.”

Current Irish exodus is ‘nothing new’

In Tuesday’s article, numerous Irish youths who had moved or were considering moving to Australia cited the rising immense cost of living pressures as their reason for leaving.

Brisbane-based Irish scaffolder Joe Kelly, 27, who has been in Australia for 15 months, recalled paying the equivalent to AU$4 per litre for petrol and AU$200 for a one-person weekly food shop on about half of his Australian wage before moving overseas.

“It’s pretty ridiculous back home, to be honest; I know everyone talks about the cost of living over here, but most things are nearly double over there,” he told news.com.au.

According to Prof Boucher, this is nothing new.

Brisbane scaffolder Joe Kelly, 27, has been in Australia for 15 months and said moving down under ‘changed his life’. Picture: Instagram.

“The Irish always migrate when there are economic challenges,” she said.

She added weight to Mr Kelly’s assessment of his new life in Brisbane, adding that the current cost of living crisis driving the Irish overseas provided insightful context for Australians.

“Cost of living is going up in a lot of countries, and I think a lot of Australians are focusing on their own situation,” she said.

“Ireland has had many economic crises.

“It was heavily affected by the financial crisis because of the way its financial sector was embedded in the global financial market and had to be bailed out.

“So maybe they’ve just weathered more crises. Australia was quite well protected during the global financial crisis thanks to the federal government’s interventions and didn’t do too badly out of Covid either. “So maybe this is relatively more shocking for Australians than people from other countries where economic booms and busts have been more common.”

Originally published as Hordes of Irish youths flooded Australia in 2023 … but experts say we’d be worse off without them