THE WORLDWIDE MARKET FOR SKILLED MIGRANTS - CAN AUSTRALIA COMPETE

Immigration, particularly skilled immigration, is an important area fo r policy-related research because it has been traditionally viewed as the one component of labor marker growth which policymakers control di rectly. One should remember that there are other participants in the i mmigration market, i.e., the migrants themselves and other receiving c ountries. Increased competition for skilled migrants among receiving c ountries may constrain policymakers' ability to control both the numbe r and the quality of the migrants they accept. The purpose of this art icle is to address these issues by analyzing the relative importance o f internal and external factors on the demand for skilled immigration visas to Australia. Our objectives are to determine how the size of th e pool of potential migrants is influenced by factors such as relative economic conditions and U.S. and Canadian Immigration policies and to determine what implications these factors have on the relative qualit y (skill level) of potential migrants to Australia. Our results indica te that the demand for skilled immigration visas to Australia is relat ed to the number of Immigrants accepted by the United States and Canad a as well as employment possibilities in Australia. We do not find a r elationship between U.S. and Canadian policy and the relative quality of the applicant pool. Caution is indicated, however, because Australi a has had to increase its acceptance rates in recent years to reach it s desired intake levels, perhaps suggesting a decrease in the selectiv ity of the evaluation process.