Skilled migrant women in regional Australia: promoting social inclusion through vocational education and training

Skilled migration is an important source of population growth and labour supply in regional Australia. However, it can be difficult for the families of skilled migrants to integrate into the local labour market socially and into the community more generally. The purpose of this report is to investigate how vocational education and training (VET) can assist in achieving ‘social inclusion’ for the families of skilled migrants, using the Greater Shepparton region of Victoria as the basis of the research.

This work is one of three projects undertaken by the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training at Monash University, as part of its three-year (2011—13) research partnership with NCVER exploring the geographical dimensions of social inclusion and vocational education and training in Australia.

Key messages

• Settlement and securing employment commensurate with skill levels and previous employment histories are particularly difficult for the spouses of skilled migrants; in particular, non-recognition of qualifications and lack of family support for domestic responsibilities make it difficult for migrant women to get work commensurate with their skills.
• VET institutions can assist the spouses of skilled migrants by offering recognition of prior learning and providing advice on how educational opportunities relate to jobs.
• Resilience on the part of migrants, assistance in job seeking and finding Australian work experience or volunteering improve labour market outcomes.

The authors argue that, in order to achieve social inclusion, policies need to acknowledge the difficulties that the families of skilled migrants face and support the engagement and contribution of migrants to the communities in which they settle — support that exists for humanitarian migrants but not for skilled migrants and their families.

Rod Camm
Managing Director, NCVER

This report investigates how vocational education and training (VET) might contribute towards socially inclusive outcomes for migrant women and their families in regional Australia. Skilled migrant women in regional Australia: promoting social inclusion through vocational education and training is part of a wider program of work researching the role of vocational education and training and geographical location in securing employment in Australia. The focus is on how individuals and groups make transitions through training and work and across locations in ways that are equitable; it also examines how migrants’ capacities are affected by community and neighbourhood factors and social capital.

The implementation of Australia’s skilled migration program since 1996 has seen rising numbers of migrants settling in regional areas of Australia. These migrants are expected to participate in the labour force and contribute to economic growth. Migration policy is designed to attract skilled migrants as individuals with capacities to be utilised to improve Australia’s economic performance. In contrast, other family members are designated as dependents, rather than considered as possessing the capabilities that could contribute to their new communities. Analyses of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data suggest that skilled migrants, particularly secondary applicants (mostly but not always women), may be more likely to be unemployed or inappropriately employed, highlighting the challenges that migrants, especially secondary applicants, face in finding employment that utilises their skills and qualifications (ABS 2009b, 2010b).

Concurrent with Australia’s skilled migration program is a policy aim of social inclusion, defined as the provision of opportunities to all to enable them to participate and succeed in society, with education a key means to achieve such ends (North, Ferrier & Long 2010a, 2010b). Policy assumes that the high levels of education and work experience of skilled migrants preclude the possibility of exclusion. However, if these levels of education and experience do not permit fair access to the Australian labour market, exclusion may result. Research (albeit predominantly quantitative) to date (see for example, Boese & Phillips 2011; Colic-Peisker 2011; Cully 2010; Griffiths, Laffan & Jones 2010; Hawthorne 2008; Hugo 2008; Lovat et al. 2011; Massey & Parr 2012; Syed 2008) suggests that particular groups of skilled migrants may be excluded, but less attention has been given in this research to understanding the processes giving rise to this state of affairs. This project sought to fill this gap by investigating the processes which limit participation for some skilled migrant women, thereby leading to their exclusion.

The main contribution of this project is the finding that, in order to achieve social inclusion for new skilled migrants, policies need to acknowledge additional indicators of disadvantage and support the engagement and contribution of migrants to the communities in which they settle. While such policies exist for humanitarian migrants, there are few settlement support policies for skilled migrants and their families. The rising numbers of migrants moving to the regional areas of Australia encounter limited labour markets, with few strategies in place to support their transition. The experiences of skilled migrant women also challenge conventional understandings of social inclusion. Their education and proficiency in English may seem to guarantee a smooth transition into the labour market, but non-recognition of their skills or lack of adequate family support for domestic responsibilities can work against their securing professional-level employment, equivalent to that held pre-migration.

The location for the study was a regional area in Victoria — the Greater Shepparton region — which was selected to reflect an area that has seen expanding numbers of migrants; it is also an area that is not experiencing the boom in employment opportunities associated with the mining and extraction industries or a lifestyle sea change. In this regard, the area may be comparable with other so-called ‘inland cities’, which expanded significantly in the 1970s, but now are generally growing at a slower rate than capital cities, their satellites and coastal cities (Daley & Lancy 2011). Arguably, understanding the process of skilled migration and the role of vocational education and training in promoting social inclusion in inland cities in regional Australia is important: ‘4.1 million Australians — nearly one person in five — still live in these smaller regional towns and rural areas’ (Daley & Lancy 2011, p.14). The opportunities migrants are able to access, the difficulties they encounter and the processes that contribute to or work against social inclusion may well be different from those in the more rapidly expanding areas of Australia.

The project employed a qualitative research methodology, whose aims were to explore and understand the settlement experiences of migrants, particularly skilled migrant women, who arrived in Australia as principal or secondary applicants through skilled migration and humanitarian settlement programs as well as via other relevant visa categories. More than 70 interviews were conducted with skilled migrant participants and members of a range of groups that work with migrants in the regional centre of Greater Shepparton in Victoria. These groups are education and training organisations; employers and employer groups; departments and agencies across government levels; non-government organisations and community groups.

The interviews revealed that settlement and securing employment commensurate with skill levels and previous employment histories are particularly difficult for secondary applicants and those skilled migrants who have broken with their previous social and employment networks. Since the overwhelming majority of secondary applicants are women, the effects of skilled migration are gendered, although our findings noted that male secondary applicants sometimes also experienced difficulties in securing appropriate employment. The research found that settlement is a complex and difficult process. A range of factors can facilitate settlement and thereby assist social inclusion, or can hinder settlement, leading to outcomes that may contribute to exclusion for these women and their families. The study found that migration should be considered as a family enterprise rather than an individual one, and it has identified a number of strategies and practices likely to enhance settlement and thus contribute to inclusion.

With regard to how vocational education and training can promote social inclusion, the research found that increasing numbers of skilled migrants in the Greater Shepparton region have education and training needs not yet recognised by the VET sector. The findings suggest that:

• There is a gap in provision, with no education and training aimed specifically at skilled migrants.
• Skilled migrants do not consider vocational education and training as offering suitable education and training opportunities.
• Education and training provision in the region lacks coordination and qualification pathways.
• Systemic measures are not in place to consider the ways by which local educational and training institutions can meet the needs of skilled migrants.

Nevertheless, our findings identified some good practices that enhanced individual migrants’ employability skills in both the VET and university organisations. These practices involved support in relation to job seeking and local work experience and to understanding specific professional networks and labour markets. In particular, within the TAFE (technical and further education) sector, a strategy of encouraging skilled migrants to participate in the organised volunteer programs developed for humanitarian migrants facilitated the skilled migrants’ transition into a new field of professional employment in human services and human development.

In terms of social inclusion, the findings suggest that, as well as focusing on the personal development of migrants, institutions and organisations should analyse the comprehensiveness of their practices for including migrants as employees, as clients and as members of the wider civil society in which the institutions and organisations operate. The research has identified that it is not always straightforward for migrants to move into employment or housing because of the discriminatory practices of some organisations. In addition, the conclusions highlight that the migration experience needs to be considered in a holistic way. Aspects other than employment contribute positively to the experience for families: greater safety and security and better opportunities, particularly for children, are highly valued and contribute to a feeling of belonging to Australia.

The potential for social inclusion is increased for skilled migrants when migrants have opportunities to:

• maintain and develop their professional networks and social capital
• acquire Australian work experience, including through volunteering
• move into paid employment with the potential to use their skills and knowledge
• feel safe and secure, and imagine a better future for their children.

Finally, this executive summary concludes by identifying the policy implications for stakeholders seeking to develop more socially inclusive practices in regional communities. The following suggestions are made for each stakeholder group who participated in the research:

Skilled migrants could:

• recognise the need to become familiar with the Australian labour market
• investigate the opportunities available, which may be in unfamiliar industries or sectors
• consider which skills are generic in terms of the labour market
• adopt an open approach to building Australian experience.

Educational institutions could:

• identify skilled migrants as a target group in regional areas
• develop progression opportunities between vocational education and training and universities in ways which articulate to local labour market needs
• develop relevant programs for skilled migrants, for example, high-level job-search courses, local labour market intelligence and employability skills
• provide independent career advice and information about educational pathways and which will achieve the desired outcome
• provide for the recognition of prior learning and experience.

Employers could:

• give greater recognition to overseas experience
• ensure selection processes are open and accessible
• provide more systematic settlement assistance and which acknowledges migrants’ families
• value diversity by employing migrants locally, particularly secondary applicants
• recognise the skills and attributes that migrants possess and utilise these to increase the stock of knowledge, thereby strengthening organisations.

Supporting organisations could:

• publicise their ability to provide local information to skilled migrants
• ensure that local networks offer welcoming opportunities to enable migrants from different backgrounds to connect to others, as well as to the wider community
• put in place governance arrangements that reflect community diversity.

Government:

• Local government could:
• enhance the accessibility of selection criteria and application processes for employment within the sector.

• State government could:
• reconsider the role of skilled migration coordinators in regional areas on the basis that they provide independent advice for employers and prospective migrants
• consider the provision of advice on overseas qualifications and the ways these qualifications can be utilised in the labour market.

• Federal government could:
• develop skilled migration policies with an awareness that resources may need to be provided to assist families.