Labour force outcomes for engineering graduates in Australia.

Skills shortages have been widely reported by engineering industries in Australia. At the same time, migration literature suggests that there is under-employment of migrant engineers. To investigate this seemingly contradictory situation this paper reviews 2006 census data to examine the stock of engineering graduates in Australia, and compares the employment and occupational profiles of migrants with the locally-born. The results show that there was a large pool of engineering graduates in Australia who were not employed in engineering occupations. Migrants, whether they had Australian or foreign engineering qualifications, experienced different labour market outcomes from locals. Two factors emerged from the study as influencing labour market outcomes for migrants: region of origin and duration in the host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]