As a demographer, I remain concerned about the ageing of Australia and the resulting universal skills shortage, especially in aged care.

I therefore argue that Australia is well advised to continue its high migration approach.

That doesn’t mean that I am not aware of the challenges that come with consistently high migration intakes.

Last week, I argued that our migration system should take in more permanent and fewer temporary migrants. A previous column showing a future Australia at a zero-migration scenario hopefully made the point that foreign workers are crucial to keep the system running. 

Today, we look at the role that foreign workers play in Australia in a bit more detail.

Anyone calling for simplistic and drastic cuts to migration is likely going to create a lot of unintended harm, and will create a less productive workforce. 

As of November 2025, the size of the Australian labour force was a massive 15.3 million people. As a reminder, the labour force is made up of workers, unemployed people and folks who are temporarily away from work (parental leave, sick leave etc).

Just over a third of all workers (35 per cent, or 5.4 million people) were born overseas. 

Where would we feel a lack of migrant workers the most? In our Capital cities, 42 per cent of the workers are from overseas, while in the regions only 20 per cent were born outside of Australia. 

This brings me to my first critique of our current migration system. 

Let’s say you want to employ a truck driver in Orange or a carpenter in Horsham. Our regional economies lack access to the workers they need to become more prosperous, and our visa system isn’t helping.

A migrant truck driver doesn’t even know that Orange is a real place. They’ll only settle there if their visa is employer-sponsored.  

Employer-sponsored visas are attractive because they link migration directly to real jobs. Rather than hoping that new arrivals move to where the work is, the visa starts with an employer who has already identified a skills gap.

This is especially useful in regional Australia, where hospitals, farms, aged-care providers, construction firms and local businesses often struggle to attract workers.

A migrant who arrives with a job, a........

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