labour shortage myth

Unemployment climbing along with population growth in Australia

Wed, 2011-08-03 23:22 by marco

There has been another sizable drop in employment. Greedy employers continue to put out claims that there is a terrible shortage of labour in Australia, because they know that the larger the pool of unemployed the less the market rate for labour will be. (Also, by pushing up immigration on the false plea that we are short of labour, they hope for more customers, more extreme house prices, and other changes by which the big fish benefit over the small.)

We have 885,000 unemployed! -- Roy Morgan

Big business has long abused its influence with the media, and has also taken advantage of various well-funded lobbies,fronts, and think-tanks (Committee for Melbourne, Urban Task force, Australian industries group, and other names for disguised lobbies) as well as the pro-business stance of the Murdoch Press and other media, to spread this disinformation.

Yet ordinary Australians know this is untrue, particularly if they have a teenager in the family trying to get his or her first job, or an older person who is been retrenched. (Employment agencies say it's hard even to get a job interview for anyone over 35, and if approaching retirement almost impossible, because employers are so spoilt for choice.)

According to Roy Morgan:

Australian Employment drops by record number in July to 10,802,000 (DOWN 418,000) as Australian workforce shrinks, and unemployment rate is up 0.6% TO 7.6%

* In July 2011 Australia’s total unemployment as measured by Roy Morgan was 885,000 (7.6%), up 40,000 (0.6%) from June 2011, and up 148,000 (up 1.3%) since July 2010.
* The Roy Morgan July 2011 ‘underemployed’* estimate was virtually unchanged at 859,000 (7.3%), down 3,000 (but up 0.2% as the workforce shrunk) from June 2011 and down 81,000 (0.8%) since July 2010.
* In total in July 2011 an estimated 1,743,000 (14.9%) of Australians were unemployed or ‘underemployed,’ up 36,000 (up 0.8%) on June 2011 and up 66,000 (0.5%) since July 2010.
* As stated, there was a large drop in the Australian workforce in July, down 378,000 to 11,687,000 which is virtually unchanged from a year ago (up 42,000) and slightly higher than in March 2011 (up 23,000).
* Overall full-time employment in Australia for July is 7,421,000 (down 219,000 since June 2011 but up 30,000 since July 2010) and part-time employment is 3,381,000 (down 199,000 since June 2011 and down 136,000 since July 2010).

Gary Morgan says:

“The July 2011Roy Morgan employment estimates was down 418,000 in a month to 10,802,000 with the falls consistent across both full-time employed — 7,421,000 (down 219,000) and part-time employed — 3,381,000 (199,000).

“This month’s fall in employment followed four straight months of rises and takes Australian employment back to the levels of February (10,770,000) and March (10,800,000) as school-leavers began to join the workforce after Summer holidays at the beginning of the new financial year.

“This is the biggest monthly fall in Australian employment ever recorded by the Roy Morgan employment measure and shows that the RBA’s decision to ignore commentators calling for an interest rate rise this week was the correct one.

Unemployment now stands at 7.6% (885,000, up 40,000) while underemployment is virtually unchanged at 7.3% (859,000, down 3,000).

This is an overall level of unemployment and underemployment of 14.9% (1,743,000, up 36,000).

“In addition employment in July is now down 106,000 on a year ago in July 2010. This is the first time employment has fallen year-over-year since October 2009 (10,385,000) which fell compared to October 2008 (10,400,000) — when the Global Financial Crisis began and dropped employment.”

For Full Tables & Release: http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2011/4692

Topic:

'Skills Shortage' - industry euphemism for 'migrants are cheaper than local training'!

Wed, 2010-11-10 22:23 by John Marlowe

The so-called 'skills shortage' in Australia is mere industry propaganda to avoid training costs. This is despite Australia have an advanced industralised base and a deep capacity as an education training nation and indeed exporter of education! Industry argues that it doesn't spend on training because their trained staff leave - what an excuse!

Yes, government and industry bleat unsubstantiated a 'skills shortage' so they can bring more and more immigrants for selfish short term economic ends while avoid financial cost of education and training locally and moral obligations to do so.

Mining companies are the worst. Their international ring-in approach sourcing foreign contractors suits mining companies to a tee - no give and all take!

Remember BHP Billiton's immoral abandonment of Ravensthorpe in WA in January 2009?
[Read More]

BHP had promised the Ravensthorpe community that it was to be there for the long haul so workers came and small businesses invested, only to see BHP Billiton suddenly close its nickel mine near Ravensthorpe, move out and leave about 1450 locals out of work and up to 5000 dependent people devasted.

Mineral commodity prices are fickle, but mining companies don't care about human resource planning and training. They know to just run to Australian politcians and cry we can create jobs so give us trained workers. So another round of flood gate immigration rolls to stay long after the work has gone.

Now two years on and mining companies are again crying 'skills shortages'.
[Read More].

But did they invest in skills training of the pervious workforce. Don't be silly, training cost seat into profits and dividends and Marios Klopers' bonuses.

Contracting is rife in many industries where employers treat workers like disposable razors. Desperate workers from developing countries will do almost anything. It is a dumbing down of Australian standards. It has encouraged 'flood gate migration' and the Laborals have no population vision.

Read More about what BHP did by abandonning Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun...

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'Anger rising over Ravensthorpe as BHP departs'

by Andrea Hayward, AAP 4th February 2009.

'FADING DREAMS: A home stands waiting for buyers at Hopetoun.

TWO weeks after BHP Billiton announced it would close its Ravensthorpe nickel mine, shock has turned to despair and anger. Despite their stoicism and resolve to make the best of a bad situation, the residents of Hopetoun and Ravensthorpe face a grim reality. Some business owners face financial ruin, many will go bankrupt and those left behind could end up living in a ghost town.

Houses purchased at peak prices as lucrative investments will be worth little and the rental market will be virtually non-existent.

The shire's population which doubled with the mine's operation will halve. Many low-income earners were driven away as rents and property prices trebled.

Most of the BHP workers who moved to the idyllic seaside haven of Hopetoun will have left by the end of the month and the number of students at the new school is expected to drop from 195 to 50.

Rumours the mine would close had circulated for months. But in every small town there are rumours about something or someone and it seemed it was business as usual for BHP.

Local businesses were being encouraged and supported to set up shop and workers were continuing to arrive with their families to live in Hopetoun just days before the mine closure was announced.

Family upheaval

Darren Swain, a site manager for maintenance and project services company Ativo, moved from Roxby Downs in South Australia to Hopetoun on December 21 with his wife and five children. He will have to again uproot his family, along with 80 Ativo employees who are now jobless.

Mr Swain said the decision to close the mine shocked everyone.

"The rumours, you just sort of dispel them the best you can because that was part of my job, to keep everyone focused on what they were doing,'' he said.

"We expected maybe cutbacks but not closure of the plant.''

On the day of the announcement, workers and contractors were told to attend safety meetings - what came next was a bolt out of the blue.

"They segregated the BHP workers from the contractors and put us up in the wet mess on the site on the 21st and said we're going to have a stop for a safety meeting and then... someone got up and read out to everyone the ASX press release and mentioned that we would all be demobilised that day,'' Mr Swain said.

No one was more shocked than the workers who arrived just days before, from as far away as South Africa, to live in Hopetoun and work at the mine.

Never the same

Life will go on for the BHP workers - the company is redeploying them to work at other mine sites and have reportedly given them packages of up to $70,000 for their troubles.

But for those who lived in the two towns before BHP, life will never be the same.

While Ravensthorpe was put on the map when gold and copper were discovered in the late 1800s, the backbone of the town has been agriculture.

Mines have opened and closed over the years but agriculture has remained the backbone of the community.

It will continue to be but the shire has been left to deal with the prospect of 250 empty houses in Hopetoun, which has been transformed from a sleepy holiday destination into a mining community with no miners.

Both Hopetoun and Ravensthorpe have been left with a scar that will never heal, shire president Brenda Tilbrook said.

"They talk about zero harm on their minesite, I would like to see them talk about zero harm to our community,'' Ms Tilbrook said.

Already someone has told her they have thought of committing suicide and the worst is to come as people struggle to keep the banks at bay.

Ms Tilbrook is convinced the mine will never reopen. In fact, she went as far to say she would bet her first born child on it.

BHP said the decision to close the mine was the result of diminished prospects for profitability.

A bleak outlook for the nickel market and the capital expenditure required to meet projected production volumes at Ravensthorpe were behind the decision, BHP said in a statement to the ASX.

Little comfort

BHP recognised the concerns of the local community and would honour any agreements made and keep the community updated, stainless steel materials president Jimmy Wilson said.

It is of little comfort for local farmer Brad Clarke who has set up the Stuffed Cocky cafe in Ravensthorpe.

Mr Clarke and his wife Lisa are yet to officially open the cafe but will push ahead with their plans because they have already invested in setting the business up and have no prospect of selling it.

BHP's refusal to speak to small business owners like the Clarkes has been a source of frustration.

Mr Clarke said.

"There's been very little information to allow us to know if the mine is a dead duck and it's never going to reopen or it's just gone into care and maintenance...''

It's a David vs Goliath type situation.

"The way they do business is not the way people here do business. I mean, we are up front, open with people and you tell people when you have an issue, you explain it to them and you hope they'll understand,'' Mr Clarke said.

"BHP as a multi-national company or as a huge corporate entity don't operate that way.

"I just don't think BHP takes any notice of the effects on people - collateral damage if you like.

"I don't think anyone realised that on enter this community. I'd like to see them put as much money into a suitable exit strategy.

"I don't feel that's happening.''

BHP spokesman Peter Ogden said the company was liaising with community leaders and the shire.

The company's focus remained on redeploying its workforce and buying back houses it helped them buy.

``In addition, we have undertaken one-on-one discussions with a number of local businesses to understand the impact of the announcement on them,'' Mr Ogden said.

No second chance

Yesterday, BHP announced a half year profit of more than $4 billion.

CEO Marius Kloppers said the Ravensthorpe mine was not ``the finest investment decision the company had made'' and said it was unlikely to reopen.

As locals rally together and regroup, attention has been drawn to putting a $100 million road through the world famous Fitzgerald River National Park.

But that's a long-term prospect and it's too far away to keep businesses going.

It also risks splitting the community, with some opposed to exploiting the UNESCO listed biosphere.

WA Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls is applying pressure on BHP to fly its workers in and out of Hopetoun to other mine sites so they can stay in their homes.

But Ms Tilbrook isn't convinced it will solve many problems.

"There may be a small percentage of people who may be willing to do that, but it will not be a large, significant amount of people,'' Ms Tilbrook said.

"They came here so their husbands didn't have to fly in and fly out, and most will go back to where their support systems are.''

The greatest tragedy is all eyes were on Hopetoun.

"This was a template for the rest of Australia on how to grow a community, a residential community, how to bring in a residential workforce for a mine and it was working,'' Ms Tilbrook said.

And, perhaps the biggest question that remains is how did the world's biggest miner and Australia's biggest company sink more than $2 billion into a mine that was flawed?

The author is a shareholder in BHP Billiton.'

I think mining companies are more contemptible than the banks. Why should anyone listen to their pleas to avoid a super mining tax?

Topic:

Immigration as the quick fix

Tue, 2008-03-11 17:58 by tim

Is Canada's perpetual shortage of skilled labour real, perceived or conjured up for the purposes of creating a glut? In the case of engineers, the latter would certainly seem to be the case. We have been graduating thousands more engineers than needed when considered in the context of the deliberate import of engineers from the rest of the world, mainly developing world. Many are driving taxis, including Canadians, and many Canadian engineers who aren't have left for the United States because the glut has driven down wages here. My nephew graduated from four years of training in marine engineering three years ago. He has spent half the time since working as a non-union construction labourer and the other half in the Coast Guard for about $25 per hour, or as much money as an inexperienced painter. Only now has he secured a tenuous position in the company he was aiming to work for. I was in my local drugstore today telling one pharmacy assistant about Bill Gates' latest scam. The H-1B visa program has allowed him and other technology companies to hire IT workers from India, China and similar locales on a two-three year contract in such numbers as to drive down the wage levels of Americans in the industry. People who are trained to earn $100,000 a year are earning $60,000 a year and many who hit 40 find themselves without a job. One of them, Gene Nelson, who graduated with a Phd in 1979 in computer engineering, is now having to file for personal bankruptcy. But this isn't enough for Gates and his colleagues in the industry. Currently there is a cap on H-1B visas and he wants it raised to the sky. Why? Because there is a "shortage" of skilled labour in the field. If this were the case, which it isn't, that would be easily remedied. Gates and others could create a "longage" of salaries to attract more IT graduates. He himself has admitted that IT salaries have not kept pace with inflation. But instead he has run to Congress demanding changes to H-1B. When he didn't get it, what did he do? He went to Vancouver to announce the creation of a Microsoft plant in Richmond where IT workers from India and China and elsewhere could be hired by the bushel under Canada's "Temporary Workers Visa". Good old Canada, no caps there. Gates can and will hire a surplus of these bargain basement brains----none from Canada no doubt-----for one devious reason. Under the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) these "temporary workers" will simply be able to take a car trip through American Customs and be in Microsoft headquarters in two hours. So much for the H-1B "cap". It was at this point the Pharmacist interjected. Colleen had been working long hours, six days a week, year after year, unassisted in her store. She explained that she had tried many times to find another pharmacist to help her, but no one would reply to her advertisements because pharmacists in Vancouver and across the province were working similar hours to hers. That was because, she said, there was a shortfall of 600 pharmacists nationally and 300 in BC. "How did this come to pass?" I asked. "It began with the tuition freeze imposed by the Provincial BC social-democratic government on colleges and universities in the 1990s." (Presumably emulated by other governments as well). The freeze was a sop thrown to its working class constituency that on the face of it was positive because it made post-secondary education more affordable to lower-income students. However, by depriving the educational institutions of revenue, it forced them to cut back the construction of labs or the acquisition of equipment for training, the number of instructors hired, the number of courses offered and the number of placements available. "The result was fewer students graduated in pharmacology." Colleen pointed out that Ontario and a few other provinces were now trying to close the gap by training more students. It is not simply a matter of making tuition affordable but investing more money in the whole training system. In the meantime though, she said, immigrant pharmacists are a welcome relief. Her attitude was shared by area residents last year when a petition made its rounds to demand that the federal government allow a South African doctor to stay in the country. Doctors are in extremely short supply in the hinterland. Some people simply can't find a General Practitioner. And South African doctors have the reputation of being the very best, even if their bedside manner is brusque. But here is the irony. After the effective public lobby, the doctor won his stay in Canada, and then pulled up stakes and moved to a more urbanized setting. As long as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of movement, how then can immigration ever solve shortages of this kind, when medicare fee structures prevent monetary incentives from being offered to hold personnel.? We are caught in a vicious cycle. Immigrant-driven population growth drives economic growth (eg.demand for housing, construction materials, roads, automobiles etc). And economic growth in turn creates labour shortages, which beg for immigration to fill them because its a quicker, cheaper fix than long-term educational investment. The public, meanwhile, not only demand the quick fix for the very real shortfalls they see, but buy into the mythology that immigration must always be the answer for these chronic problems. And of course, no thought is ever given to the idea of putting our economic and social needs within a framework of ecological sustainability. Along with, "How many pharamicists and doctors do we need to import?" should be questions like, "Should we poach them from developing countries?", and more importantly, "How many immigrants, how many people, can the environment of this country sustain?" Canada is a sugar-addict. Needing energy (skilled labour), we reach for a candy bar (immigration) and wolf it down. Within minutes, we not only feel relief but hyperactivity. But soon the insulin kicks in, and we crash, either into a recession or another severe shortage of labour (sugar). Ingest another candy bar and the cycle continues. Anything to keep the immigration rush going. From 16 million people in 1950 to 33 million people today in 2008. Unless we break this addiction to growth, our health will break. We must stabilize ourselves and shed some demographic weight. We have our work cut out for us. Tim Murray See also Immigration myths demolished by economics journalist

labour shortage myth

Unemployment climbing along with population growth in Australia

We have 885,000 unemployed! -- Roy Morgan

According to Roy Morgan:

Topic:

'Skills Shortage' - industry euphemism for 'migrants are cheaper than local training'!

'Anger rising over Ravensthorpe as BHP departs'

Topic:

Immigration as the quick fix

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