The tech sector and the peak union body have joined forces to call for fast-tracked permanent residency for high-skilled, well-paid tech workers to plug legitimate skills shortages.
In the deal signed ahead of the jobs and skills summit next week, the ACTU and the Tech Council of Australia also agreed on the need to establish a new digital apprenticeship delivered through the vocational education system.
The apprenticeship would involve study as well as on-the-job learning, and ideally be subsidised by the government to incentivise employers to take part.
The union and tech industry bodies also want to see more women pursuing a career in technology.
They want the government to focus on pathways to permanent migration for tech workers but have also agreed to the faster processing times for top-tier tech occupations if there is an "independently verified" skills shortage.
The Labor government welcomed the deal brokered after the tech industry roundtable last week.
"It's tremendous to see this sort of collaboration coming out of our industry roundtables last week ahead of the jobs and skills summit," Industry Minister Ed Husic said.
"The summit itself will be an opportunity to examine this proposal and determine agreements to pursue further work to bring these and other ideas to life."
The government will hold the two-day summit next week to discuss skills shortages, sluggish wage growth and how to maintain low unemployment.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said there would be a debate on changes to the enterprise bargaining system.
"(The system) is just not delivering that strong responsible sustainable wages growth that we need to see, which has been absent from our economy for the best of the decade," he told ABC Radio on Thursday.
"We're not naive about this issue being contentious.
"We're not surprised that there are different views about the best way to improve the enterprise bargaining system."
Dr Chalmers said working Australians had gone backwards under the current enterprise bargaining system while businesses were recording large profits.
"We want to reattach the link between national economic success and people's ability to earn enough to feed themselves and provide for the people that they love. That's our objective," he said.
"People will have different views about how we get there. We welcome those views."
Recently released Australian Bureau of Statistics data for the June quarter showed pay packets were falling behind the rising cost of living.
Australia's migration program will also feature prominently at the summit, with the possibility of a rise in the cap for skilled migrants and movement on visa processing backlogs.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he was looking forward to the summit.
"Part of that is about bringing Australia around a table so that we can actually have a conversation," he told the Nine Network.
"We've not really had that over the last decade, that's why everyone is really looking forward to next week."
While boosting the participation of women in the workforce will also be discussed, Dr Chalmers played down calls to bring forward changes to the childcare system to January.
"I have been considering it ... but there are substantial costs," he said.
Opposition frontbencher Simon Birmingham said he hoped the summit would be a success, even though the Liberal Party declined an invitation from the government to attend.
"The test of the job summit will be whether small and medium business owners look at what is recommended and think 'it will be easier for me to grow my business, it will be easier for me to hire more people'," he told ABC Radio.
"That is, really, the simple test that it has to pass."
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will not attend, but Nationals leader David Littleproud will be present to ensure rural and regional interests are represented.
