By Claire Higgins and Louise Olliff
Regional Australia has long struggled to attract skilled workers away from urban centres. In the years since the pandemic, however, the labour market in country areas has tightened even further.
Unemployment across regional Australia is at historically low levels, meaning many job vacancies are going unfilled.
Our new research, published this week by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, looked at a scheme called the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot. This program includes concessions that ease the international hiring process for refugee job applicants and the employers who sponsor them.
We spoke to business owners, employers, local council representatives, migration agents, refugee settlement service providers and former refugees across regional Australia. We found the program is already delivering benefits for employers, refugees and local communities. Despite that, it is due to end on June 30.
Many small business owners are desperate to find workers. One told us:
Everyone is just burnt out […] We need more staff!
Employers and regional communities would benefit if the scheme was made an ongoing program.
As one business owner told us:
If this is a way to bring enthusiastic people who are looking for a future [to fill labour shortages] there’s no reason why we can’t participate in that.
For some small employers, hiring skilled migrants is the best or only viable option.
But without large human resources departments experienced in international recruitment, small businesses told us the paperwork is “too cumbersome” and time consuming, and visa processing too slow.
For several years, the Australian government has piloted a way to make it easier for skilled refugees to apply for jobs through the skilled migration program.
Also known as a “labour mobility pathway”, the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot sits outside the government’s Humanitarian Program for refugees (as a “complementary pathway”). It includes concessions that ease the hiring process for refugee job applicants and the employers who sponsor them.
Between July 2021 and April 2026, this program has enabled 182 skilled refugees, plus their family members (393 people), to migrate permanently to Australia on an employer-sponsored visa.
A further 60 refugees have secured job offers and are expected to arrive soon with their families.
They have come as engineering, healthcare and IT professionals, skilled tradespeople and agricultural workers. Just over a third are employed in regional areas.
How it works
Our research shows the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot was a success. It has delivered strong outcomes in the regions, and employers report outstanding retention rates.
The organisation Talent Beyond Boundaries, which we partnered with for this research, acts as an implementing organisation. It connects employers and job candidates, and supports them to navigate the paperwork and practicalities of moving to Australia.
Skilled refugee “alumni” of the program, along with their families, have found long-term safety and security, settling well in regional communities.
One engineer working in the Northern Territory told us local communities and employers
will give you a big heart, because it’s hard to find people out here.
Those same communities have reported real benefits. Families have settled long-term, the partners of the refugee workers have gained employment locally, and their children are in local schools. These families have also built strong social connections in their communities.
One community worker said of refugee workers being able to migrate with their families:
Bringing a family is a really good start to having longevity with the workforce.
Room for improvement
But awareness of the pilot remains limited, and small businesses in regional Australia need incentives to help offset the up-front costs they face in hiring through the program.
This includes waiving or reducing the Skilling Australia Fund levy (imposed on all employers who hire internationally). Additional visa charges for dependent family members could also be waived or reduced.
It’s also important to make it easier for employers to hire people who need industry accreditation or to gain skills on the job. This is especially true for those filling crucial roles in sectors such as health and aged care, education, construction and engineering.
We also need policies that allow people who come through this pathway to access settlement support, humanitarian family reunions and a financial safety net, such as JobSeeker payment and employment support for family members. This would give refugee families arriving under this scheme the best chance of success.
Skills and talent going to waste
Many of the 42.5 million refugees in the world are highly skilled and educated. Yet, more than half are prevented from or face difficulty entering local labour markets.
Their skills and talents are wasted at a time when countries like Australia are facing chronic skills shortages.
For displaced professionals and tradespeople, a labour mobility pathway like the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot offers a chance to migrate based on their skills, not their refugee status.
The labour mobility pilot is a tangible step in Australia’s pledge to expand other pathways for refugees to come here, beyond our vital and life-saving humanitarian intake. It should be extended beyond June 30 and made a permanent program.
Claire Higgins is a Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney. Louise Olliff is a Senior Research Associate at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney. This article was first published by The Conversation
