Research Note no.55 2003-04
Temporary migration: a new paradigm of international migration(1)
Professor Graeme Hugo, Consultant
IRS Contact Janet Phillips
Social Policy Section
24 May 2004
Introduction
Perhaps the greatest change that has occurred in Australian
immigration in the last decade is a change in emphasis from settlement
migration to temporary migration. As a result, there has been an exponential
increase in both long-term arrivals (mostly temporary workers on visas
for 12 months or more) and short-term arrivals (less than 12 months).
In 2001 02 there were 340 200 foreigners granted
temporary residence in Australia, but only 88 900 incoming permanent
settlers. On 30 June 2001 there were 554 200 people in Australia
on a temporary basis, of whom 289 300 had the right to work.
Increased temporary migration
Although there has been a long history of significant
non-permanent flows to Australia, the contemporary flow is quite different
in scale. It involves large numbers of temporary residents with the right
to work and a plethora of new kinds of temporary migration to Australia.
The exponential increase in non-permanent migration
has not been confined to Australia. In the United States, for example,
there were 4.6 million immigrants admitted between 1995 and 2000
while 142.8 million non-migrants were admitted, of whom 2.2 million
were temporary workers, 2.8 million were students and 3.6 million were
others who had the right to work. Indeed, in the international literature
there have been calls for replacing the concept of international migration,
which implies permanent settlement, with the term trans-national migration.
Short term movement
In Australia over the last two decades there has been
an acceleration in short-term movement, with both foreigners visiting
Australia and Australians going overseas on a short-term basis.
It is clear that short-term visiting has greatly increased
and this represents much more than an expansion of global tourism (despite
the fact that there has been a slowdown in recent years reflecting SARS,
the Asian financial crisis and similar concerns). This trend represents
a new global regime in which many people work for considerable periods
in more than one country.
Skilled migration
Australia has long had an emphasis on attracting permanent
settlers to the country and a strongly expressed opposition to attracting
temporary and contract workers. During the labour shortage years of the
1950s and 1960s, Australias migration solution to the problem contrasted
sharply with that of European nations, such as Germany and France, when
it opted to concentrate on attracting permanent migrants to meet worker
shortages rather than contract workers. However, in recent years attitudes
have changed in Australia and it has been recognised that, in the context
of globalised labour markets, it is essential to have mechanisms to allow
non-permanent entry of workers in certain groups.
Nevertheless, this form of entry has not been extended
to unskilled and low-skilled areas and has been open only to entrepreneurs
and people with particular skills. There has been increasing pressure
from some groups to allow unskilled workers to enter the country temporarily
to meet labour shortages in some areas. The most notable example of this
is in the area of harvest labour, especially in fruit, vegetables and
vines where significant seasonal labour shortages have occurred in recent
years.
Figure 1. Australia: short-term
movements, 197071 to 200103
Source: DIMIA, Australian
immigration: consolidated statistics and Immigration update,
various issues; DIMIA, unpublished data.
Net migration
The significance of people coming to work in Australia
temporarily is especially evident in the increase in long-term arrivals
to Australia. This has had an impact, at least in the short-term, on overall
net migration gains in Australia. An increasing proportion of Australias
net migration gain in recent years has been from more long-term arrivals
than long-term departures and a reducing proportion has been from more
settler arrivals than permanent departures. Indeed, since19992000 the
net migration gain from long-term movement exceeded that from permanent
movement.
A key dimension of recent net migration gains is that
in recent years an increasing proportion of that gain has been derived
from there being more long-term (as opposed to permanent) arrivals than
long-term departures. In 2002 long-term net gains were twice as large
as net permanent gains. This represents a significant change in Australian
immigration.
Conclusion
Temporary movements are shaping Australias migration
program. More than half of the skilled permanent migrants in 200203 entered
as students.
There is no doubt that there has been a transformation
of the scale, characteristics and significance of international population
movements in recent years. This demands a continuous reassessment of Australias
immigration policy and program as well as a full assessment of the global
situation impinging on population movements to and from Australia.
- This Research Note is one of a series of extracts derived from, A
new paradigm of international migration: implications for migration
policy and planning for Australia, Research Paper,
no. 10, Parliamentary Library, Canberra 200304.
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