International students ‘have no effect on jobs, wages’

Five out of six international students do not remain in Australia, but leave for opportunities elsewhere, according to visa data.

Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Brendan O'Connor.

Five out of six international students do not remain in Australia but leave for opportunities elsewhere, according to official visa data.

The figures, published by the federal government earlier this year, also cite several studies of census and other data that found workers from overseas have no negative impact on employment or wage levels in Australia, including among youth and the low skilled.

The report, Shaping a Nation: Population Growth and Immigration Over Time, published jointly by Treasury and the ­Department of Home Affairs, also says international students are no longer the largest source of permanent skilled migrants, as they were a decade ago.

Eight years ago the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments cracked down on what was acknowledged then to be widespread abuse of student visas as a path to permanent residency and since then it has been more difficult for international students to remain permanently in Australia.

About 90 per cent of the 1.6 million temporary migrants in Australia have the right to work, and international students are the second largest group of temporary migrants after New Zealanders. But even though the numbers of international students are now growing strongly, over the past decade New Zealanders have contributed more to the growth of temporary migrants in Australia (in numerical terms) than international students.

The findings belie community concern about the negative impact on growing numbers of international students, which is becoming a political issue.

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In the run-up to this weekend’s Super Saturday by-elections, federal Labor has tried to tap into fear about international students taking jobs.

Earlier this week, opposition employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor raised the possibility of capping international student numbers, though he said this was a “last resort”.

However, Mr O’Connor said that given the massive growth in international student visas it was clear “there are circumstances where people are coming only to work”.

“Why do we allow the overuse and abuse when we know youth unemployment is more than 11 per cent?” he asked.

Australia offers more generous work rights to international ­students than some competitor destinations such as the US and Britain, but a major survey of international students, conducted by i-graduate, shows this is not one of the main drivers of student choice.

I-graduate’s 2016 International Student Barometer survey found that as a factor in where to study, the opportunity to work while studying ranked 15th for university students and 16th for vocational education students.

Factors that students considered to be more important included reputation, personal safety, research quality and the availability of specific courses.