The Myth of an Australian Skills Crisis: An Excuse for Replacement Mass Immigration! By James Reed

The Macrobusiness.com.au article

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/03/australian-labour-shortages-are-a-mirage/

challenges the widely accepted narrative of a persistent "skills crisis" in Australia. It begins by referencing a report from recruitment firm Hays, highlighted by journalist Matt Bell, which claimed that 85 percent of hiring managers faced worsening skills gaps despite a softening labor market and record-high immigration levels. The article critiques this narrative, suggesting that the perceived labour shortages are exaggerated or misunderstood.

The piece argues that the data doesn't align with the claims of a crisis. It points to analysis by "Greg" (presumably an economist or commentator cited elsewhere on the site), which likely demonstrates that labour market conditions do not reflect a genuine shortage of skilled workers. The article implies that factors such as high immigration—often touted as a solution to skills shortages—have not alleviated the supposed problem, casting doubt on the idea that a lack of workers is the core issue. Instead, it suggests that the "shortage" may be a mirage, possibly driven by employer expectations, mismatches in training, or economic policies rather than an actual deficit of capable workers.

The article fits into Microbusiness's broader critique of Australia's economic reliance on immigration and resource exports, as seen in related posts. It advocates scepticism toward business lobbies and commentators like Simon Kuestenmacher, who advocate for sustained high migration to address workforce needs.

The notion of a skills shortage in Australia can be argued as a myth—a narrative perpetuated by vested interests in mass immigration rather than grounded in reality.

Australia has seen historically high net overseas migration, with around one million arrivals in the two years following the Albanese government's election, much of it labelled as "skilled." If a genuine skills shortage existed, this influx should have eased employer complaints. Yet, firms continue to report labour constraints, as noted in the NAB Business Survey (cited in a related Macrobusiness post from February 2025), where nearly half of businesses still see labour availability as a "minor" constraint and a third as "significant." This persistence suggests the issue isn't a lack of workers but something else—perhaps unrealistic employer demands or inefficiencies in matching skills to jobs.

Official statistics paint a picture of a robust job market, not a starved one. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported 3.5 percent annual job growth in January 2025 and an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent—among the lowest in the developed world. Job vacancies, while down 2.5 percent in December 2024 to 214,600, remain 25 percent above 2019 levels, indicating a market with ample opportunities, not a dire shortage. If skilled workers were truly scarce, unemployment would be even lower, and wage growth—stagnant or declining in real terms (down 10.3 percent since Q2 2020)—would be surging due to competition for talent. Instead, the data suggests an oversupply of labour, not a deficit.

Australia's labour productivity has flatlined since 2016, performing worse than most advanced economies, as noted by Justin Fabo and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in related Macrobusiness coverage. If skills shortages were real, productivity should rise as firms compete for scarce, high-value workers. Instead, the RBA links this stagnation partly to high immigration, which floods the market with labour but doesn't necessarily enhance efficiency. This implies that the "shortage" is a misdiagnosis—businesses may lack innovation or investment in training, not workers.

The Hays report's 85 percent figure of hiring managers facing skills gaps could reflect a disconnect between expectations and the workforce, not an absence of talent. Businesses often demand ready-made employees with niche skills rather than investing in upskilling locals or adapting roles. The article's scepticism aligns with this: if shortages were acute, firms would adjust wages or training programs, yet many prefer lobbying for more migrant workers—a cheaper, short-term fix. This pattern suggests a structural preference for imported labour over a genuine scarcity; cheaper workers to replace Aussies.

The "skills shortage" trope has been pushed by business lobbies for decades, as Macrobusiness has argued elsewhere (e.g., a 2023 post on immigration myths). Despite population growth of 8.5 million this century, mostly via "skilled" migration, the same complaints persist. This repetition hints at a manufactured crisis to justify high immigration policies that benefit corporate profits and property markets, not the broader economy. Commentators like Kuestenmacher, criticised in the Macrobusiness article, amplify this narrative, but their predictions falter against evidence of a saturated labour pool.

The establishment often frames skills shortages as a simple supply issue, solvable by opening borders. But this overlooks deeper dynamics: an economy overly reliant on commodity exports and public-sector jobs (87 percent of job growth since 2023, per Macrobusiness), not manufacturing or innovation, doesn't cultivate a skilled workforce organically. The "mirage" label fits—an illusion sustained by cherry-picked surveys and ignored data, masking inefficiencies and policy failures.

In conclusion, Australia's skills shortage is a myth propped up by outdated assumptions and vested interests. The labour market is awash with workers; the real shortfall lies in strategic economic planning and employer adaptability—not in human capital itself. And beyond all else, like the other myth of immigration stopping an ageing population, the skills shortage argument is merely a smoke screen for mass immigration, and mass immigration is no more than White genocide, all done by the state obeying the commands of the globalist elite Dark Lords.