Employment Disadvantages among Asian NESB Skilled Migrants in Australia: The Case of Japanese Independent Professionals

ABSTRACT

Since the late 20^th century, skilled labour migration has become a primary channel for resolving the increased global competition, ageing workforces, and skill shortages facing industrialised countries. Despite this ongoing policy trend, skilled migrants – who are increasingly from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESBs), including Asia – confront barriers to securing employment that is commensurate with their skill levels, which exposes them to an array of social and economic vulnerabilities. This article uses qualitative data to examine post-migration employment disadvantages among an under-researched group of Asian NESB skilled migrants in Australia: Japanese independent professionals. The findings show that their employment disadvantages in the host labour market can be attributed to what is termed here multilateral contextual gaps in skills transfer, rather than simply a lack of competence, knowledge, or work experience. The article concludes by identifying the implications of the study, including policy changes that would help improve the skills utilisation and retention of skilled migrants in Australia, which appear to be hampered by the host country’s human capital-based, market-driven skills regimes. These changes are urgent given the imperative for societies such as Australia to revive their economies in the post-pandemic era through higher intakes of skilled migrants.

20 世紀後半以降, 高度技能労働者の移住は, 先進国が直面しているグローバル競争の激化, 労働力の高齢化, 技能不足を解決するための主要政策となっている。そうした政策が顕著になりつつある中で, 近年, 増加傾向を見せているアジアを含む非英語圏出身 (NESB) の高度技能移民労働者は, スキルレベルに見合った雇用確保を困難にする障壁に直面し, 様々な社会的. 経済的リスクにさらされている。本稿では, インタビューによる質的データを用いて, オーストラリアにおけるアジア系NESB高度技能移民労働者のうち, 十分に研究されていない日本人の技術系独立移住者グループに焦点を当て, 移住後の雇用上の不利について考察する。本稿の研究成果として, 彼らの受け入れ労働市場における雇用上の不利は, 単に能力, 知識, 実務経験の不足というより, むしろ, 移住過程で生じる「多角的な文脈上のギャップ」に起因することが明らかになった。また, 本稿の最終章では, 受入国の人的資本に基づく市場主導型の技能制度によって妨げられていると考えられる, オーストラリアにおける高度技能移民の技能活用と定着の改善に役立つ政策案に言及する。本稿で提示した変革は, オーストラリアのような移民と共存する社会にとって, 高度技能労働者移民の受け入れ拡大によるポストコロナ時代の経済復興が急務であることを考えると, まさに緊急課題であると言える。

KEYWORDS:

• Skill shortages
• skill utilisation
• labour migration
• labour market integration
• human capital
• social constructivism
• non-English speaking backgrounds (NESBs)
• Japan
• Australia
• multilateral contextual gaps (MCGs)

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank, first and foremost, the research participants for their willingness to share their time and experiences to make this project possible. She is also grateful to the Editor-in-Chief, Thematic Editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. The OECD defines over-qualification as a situation where the difference between a worker’s qualification level and the qualification level required in their occupation is positive (Quintini, 2011, 194).

^2. The Northern Territory Designated Area Migration Agreement is an employer-sponsored visa programme. Employers in the Northern Territory may use the scheme to sponsor foreign-born workers for open positions that they cannot fill locally.

Additional information

Funding

The author has no funding to declare with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.