Increasing demand for Skilled Workers in Regional Victoria
Employers in regional areas of Victoria are increasingly demanding skilled workers due to the lack of local talent in the workforce.
The top skills that are required are:
- Chefs
- Cooks
- Fish Filleters
- Fruit & Vegetable Pickers
- Planting & Cultivation Workers
- Diesel Mechanics
- Truck Drivers
Employers are expressing their concerns that the IELTS and ANZSCO restrictions are causing the agricultural industry to find skiled migrant work.
The main concern being that the ANZSCO codes are not consistent with the actual duties and tasks performed by certain skilled professions.
The second concern is the lack of willing skilled migrants who have high enough IELTS scores to be able to be sponsored under the Regional Skilled Migration Scheme (RSMS) to work in regional Australia.
Generally, to be able to apply for a RSMS visa via the Direct Entry Stream, an applicant needs to score at least an overall score of 6.
The issue at hand is that the ANZSCO codes do not properly reflect the skills and/or qualifications required for some of the nominated occupations and that such a high level of English is not required for the nominated occupations.