A Prosperous and Cohesive Nation - Migration Programme Outcomes 2006-07

PHAR LAP

New Member
A Prosperous and Cohesive Nation - Migration Programme Outcomes 2006-07

Thursday, 16 August 2007

The 2006-07 Migration Programme composition will strengthen Australia’s economy and maintain a cohesive community.

A total of 148,200 permanent visas were granted for the programme 2006-07 year.

The Howard Government believes that people wishing to live in Australia should bring workplace skills that will benefit and grow our economy, together with a commitment to participate in the community.

A total of 97,920 permanent skilled visas were granted for the year, this represents 66 per cent of the total migration programme.

This year the average age of skilled stream entrants is 31 years.

The top occupation for skilled stream entrants is accountancy (10,688), followed by computing professionals (4,044) and registered nurses (2,088). Other top professions included mechanical engineers, civil engineers, marketing specialists and general managers. 

The top five countries of origin for skilled stream entrants were: United Kingdom (24,800), India (15,865), People’s Republic of China (14,688), Republic of South Africa (4,293) and Malaysia (3,838).

The Coalition Government understands the major economic and social challenges of an increasing demand on our economy for skilled workers at a time when our workforce is retiring in greater numbers due to the aging of the population.

The reality is we face a shortage of workers in Australia.

Australia is competing for skilled workers with Europe, the US, Canada and New Zealand.  We simply have to ensure that we build a productive nation where business can continue to thrive into the future.

The second associated challenge is the ageing of our population. We have an ageing population because two things are happening. One is we're living longer, which is a great outcome, the other is that we've not been reproducing ourselves for about 40 years. The combination of those factors means year by year, the average age of the population grows older and that's compounded by a third factor, namely that the last great demographic shift in Australia was the baby boom from the end of the Second World War.

Part of the response to these challenges lies in attracting to Australia young, skilled professionals who will contribute to a cohesive society.

The 2006-07 family stream is making a greater contribution to this goal. More than 39,000 (80%) of the 2006-07 family stream were spouses, fiancés or interdependent. The global economy and more affordable overseas travel is enabling more young Australians to go overseas to study and work. This tends to occur during their 20s and early 30s when they also tend to enter into relationships. There is a growing demand on the program for those people who want to bring their spouses back to Australia and form a family and live here.

A total of 50,079 family stream visas were granted for the year, this represents 33 per cent of the total migration programme.

This year the average age of family stream entrants (total) is 32 years.

The top five countries of origin for family stream entrants were: United Kingdom (6,540), People’s Republic of China (6,037), India (3,634), Philippines (3,098) and Vietnam (3,040).

A total of 13,017 visas were granted through the refugee and humanitarian programme.

More than 16% of refugee visas were granted in the Women at Risk category, well ahead of the Australian Government’s 10.5 per cent target.

The 2006-07 migration programme outcomes will meet the challenges of tomorrow and build a prosperous and cohesive future for our nation.

Bron : immi.gov.au
 
Back
Top