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International students a lifeline for Australian labour force .
By NCA NewsWire
As international students return to Australia ’ s shores , many will be joining or rejoining the workforce , relieving pressure on small businesses that have struggled to find workers during the pandemic .
Under temporary new rules , international students can work as many hours as they like until April , compared to a previous cap of 20 hours a week .
Reinvigorating the workforce may have been partly behind the decision to reopen the borders for international students in mid-December after almost two years .
There still remains about 300,000 fewer international students in the country than before the pandemic .
Peter Hurley , a policy fellow at Victoria University think tank The Mitchell Institute , said international students made up a vital part of the workforce , particularly in hospitality and carer roles .
“ There ’ s such shortages in a lot of these occupations that international students often worked in … they almost need them to come back quickly to help keep the economy going ,” the education and health policy specialist said .
Before the pandemic , current or recently graduated international students made up about 15 per cent of waiters , 12 per cent of kitchen hands , 10 per cent of chefs and 11 per cent of commercial cleaners .
International students also made up roughly nine per cent of nursing support staff and personal care workers in aged care before Covid struck .
“ They ’ re often in roles that are absolutely necessary and that often other people won ’ t do because they ’ re not as well paid ,” Dr Hurley said .
“ We rely on them and people benefit from their labour .”
The ability to find work may be a key reason many choose Australia for their studies .
According to 2016 Census data , about 78 per cent of Indian and 87 per cent of Nepalese students get a job while they are in Australia , compared to less than 21 per cent of students from China .
Indian and Nepalese students are also returning at a faster rate than others , making up half of 29,856 new arrivals since borders reopened late last year .
Chinese students have been slower to return , making up about 60 per cent of currently enrolled international students that are still overseas .
Dr Hurley said this could be for a number of reasons including domestic rules within China .
“ They ’ ve got some of the harshest rules around coming and going , and that ’ s going to have a big impact ,” he said .
“ I think the number of Chinese students in Australia will increase – whether it gets back up to the level of pre-pandemic , that remains to be seen .” ■
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