When what you have is not enough: Acquiring Australian qualifications to overcome non-recognition of overseas skills

George Tan, Andreas Cebulla

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Skilled migration is an important strategy in developed economies seeking to address skills shortages and population ageing. Research on the labour market outcomes of skilled migrants tends to focus on employers' devaluation of skills without considering the role of immigration policy in the migration process. Moreover, there is little understanding of whether efforts to meet employer demands for local qualifications improve labour market outcomes. Drawing on a study on skilled migrants sponsored under the State-Specific and Regional Migration Scheme in the regional state of South Australia, we explore the shaping of skills and skills recognition in the migration journey, particularly migrants' strategy of reskilling in response to employer demands for local qualifications. Our logistic regressions on the association between the acquisition of Australian qualifications and labour market outcomes reveal only marginal returns to these efforts. We argue that Australia should consider developing a more coherent skilled migration process to better harness the human capital of skilled migrants.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-21
Number of pages21
JournalInternational Migration
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 2022

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'When what you have is not enough: Acquiring Australian qualifications to overcome non-recognition of overseas skills'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this