The Australian Government has the power to adjust immigration levels according to the economic circumstances of the day and last week Cabinet agreed to cut the permanent skilled migration program in light of the worsening global economic situation.

The government claims that the economic circumstances in Australia have changed as a result of the global financial crisis so it is prudent to reduce this year’s migration intake accordingly.

The changes to the program include:
* A 14 per cent cut in the 2008-09 permanent skilled migration program intake from 133,500 to 115,000.
* Removing building and manufacturing trades from the Critical Skills List, such as bricklayers, plumbers, welders, carpenters and metal fitters. The list will now comprise mainly health and medical, engineering and IT professions.

These changes follow measures announced in December that resulted in only those migrants sponsored by an employer or in an occupation on the Critical Skills List being granted visas under the permanent skilled migration program. Almost half of the permanent visas granted are to applicants already living and working in Australia.

The Critical Skills List will remain under constant review and the Government will remove occupations from the list if demand for those skills can be satisfied by local labour.

The Government believes that there are still skills shortages in some sectors, such as healthcare, and that these measures will enable industry to continue to source the skilled professionals they need while protecting local jobs and the wages and conditions of Australian workers.

The Rudd Government states that it remains committed to a strong migration program but will continue to monitor the migration intake and will set the 2009-10 migration program to reflect the economic climate as part of the Budget process.