New statistics have shown South Australia is on track to reach its skilled nomination quota for the first time in years, with 1495 nominations already recorded for the 2014-15 financial year.
The figure is ahead of the average number of nominations that have been recorded at the same time over the past few years, prompting calls from the Government as to the substantial benefits of migrants to the State.
Last year just 2226 skilled migrants were nominated to relocate to South Australian by the State Government, a number shy of the 2400 maximum allocation limit.
However Migration Solutions Managing Director, Mark Glazbrook, is urging for the new figures to be put into perspective.
“Whilst it is great news that SA finally looks like it will use its full allocation of nominations made available to it by the Federal Government, a valid question should be why we failed to reach this quota before,” he said.
“It would also be helpful to find out what are the occupations that are being filled with these nominations.
“Are they in fact highly skilled jobs that are currently in shortage here in SA, or merely positions that were in demand and are still available due to an outdated Skilled Nominated Occupations List?”
“It is certainly good news, but until we see if there are highly skilled migrants from overseas, or simply an increase in international graduates, it is difficult to determine how beneficial these figures really are to the State’s economy.”
“Obviously every new person that comes to live in South Australia is of benefit to our State’s economy, but there are certainly some skills that we need to be targeting more aggressively than others.”
On the whole, Mr Glazbrook says it is good news that the South Australian government is at least clearly aware of the benefits of skilled migration.
However as for how well we are doing at attracting skilled migrants to our State, more time will be needed in order to know for sure.
