Labour shortage puts the breaks on Leighton Holding projects

[European blood]

A MASSIVE influx of migrant labour is needed for the multi-billion-dollar gas and mineral projects powering the nation's economy, the outspoken head of the country's largest construction company says.


Leighton Holding boss David Stewart said Australia doesn't have enough workers and won't be able to reap the full rewards of the mining boom without importing labour as it did for nation-building schemes like the Snowy River damming project.

"Australia can capitalise on its gas and mineral wealth, but it is constrained by labour," Mr Stewart said.

The recently installed chief executive said his company simply could not bid for some lucrative mining construction projects because the manpower was not available.

Mr Stewart pointed his finger at the Federal Government for not loosening migration laws and called for a revival of the type of program that powered Australia in the 1950s.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/migrant-labour-needed-for-gas-and-mining-projects/story-fn7x8me2-1226115492848

[Anders Hoveland]

Australia already has plenty of labor. This big energy companies just want skilled cheap labor. Nevermind the unemployment rate in Australia.

Just thought I would mention the situation in Japan here. There is a huge number of Japanese trapped in low paying jobs who barely earn enough to afford housing (the cost of living is high in Japan, especially in the cities). Unemployment is also rather high, although the official government statistics downplay this. Despite the serious employment problems, there are still politicians claiming that Japan does not have enough nurses to take care of its aging population.

"Bringing Foreign Workers Ruins Japan", written by Goro Ono, honorary professor at Saitama University.

Goro Ono wrote, "If industries where labor is in high demand pay adequate salaries, people will work there." Ono used nursing as a good example. "Japan is actively bringing in Indonesians and other foreigners to cover a shortage because nurses in Japan are woefully underpaid. While on the other hand, public entities never have trouble finding garbage collectors because they get decent salaries."

Ono also brought up the lack of discussion about the cost of building infrastructure to accept more immigrants.