WA labour shortage top issue

Western Australia's labour shortage may be top of the election agenda for the state's peak business lobby group, but the recruitment of blue-collar overseas workers is set to become more difficult, according to the migration industry.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA this week released its list of policy priorities for the upcoming state election, naming labour shortages as the biggest challenge facing WA business.

It called for a human capital strategy, which would address labour shortages through supporting permanent and temporary migration, and increasing participation from under-represented groups in the workforce, including women, older people, indigenous Australians and people with disabilities.

But WA migration agents believe the recruitment of overseas workers - an integral part of tackling the wider labour issue - will become more difficult if a new policy is adopted by federal government agency, Trades Recognition Australia.

The TRA, which manages skills assessment for general skilled migrants, was due to bring in a new assessment procedure next Monday, which would have recognised overseas licensing for some occupations, but raised the bar on qualifications required by some blue-collar roles.

But, an eleventh hour decision to postpone the move has created uncertainty over whether the policy will be introduced.

Migration Institute of Australia WA branch executive Stephen Sinclair said workers would still be required to have skills accreditation from their home country.

"My belief is it will make it harder to recruit overseas people here, because the bar has been lifted on overseas qualifications, not lowered. It's going to make the process more complex," he said.

The new policy was meant to replace the old 'pathway D', which allowed some blue-collar workers to enter the country with only work experience or on-the-job training, rather than formal qualifications.

This was scrapped in September last year and has dramatically reduced the pool of eligible workers applying for a visa, according to Mr Sinclair.

"It immediately removed experienced workers with no formal training, particularly from England," he said.

"[The TRA is] trying to impose an Australian training regime on other countries. There seems to be a removal of acceptance of other counties' training systems."

"It may very well be a political issue. The TRA has been knocking back overseas assessments rather harshly over the past six months, even after evidence of apprenticeship recognition has been provided."

Last year, the TRA also introduced a compulsory skills assessment for workers from the UK, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, who worked in a handful of trades, including general electricians and plumbers, mechanics and bricklayers.

Kewdale-based Iscah Migration director Steve O'Neil said the effect had been to increase the cost of skills assessment, from $300 to $2,200, which was prohibitively expensive.

"The [countries and trades] we really wanted to target aren't getting through the skills assessment process, and it's skewing the intake towards countries we're not as interested in, but the [government] doesn't care because there's a backlog of applications in the system," Mr O'Neil said.