Here’s a way to fix Australia’s skills shortage – and raise wages at the same time

‘This is blindingly obvious, but often ignored: if you essentially exclude half the population from working in a job, filling that job is twice as hard,’ writes Greg Jericho. Photograph: gahsoon/Getty Images

Skills shortages are nothing new. Ten years ago, when unemployment was 5.9%, I wrote about how business groups were demanding more migration to tackle the skills shortage (they always do). And while migration is often seen as the quick fix, the latest annual occupational shortage list compiled by the Jobs and Skills Australia points to increasing diversity as a much better way to solve the problem.

On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that in the year to August, 1 million people arrived under permanent skilled visas, temporary skilled visas and temporary work visas. That’s about 12% of the 14.4 million people employed: