Most skilled workers brought into Australia under section 457 visas are settling in Melbourne and Sydney, not in mining towns facing skills shortages, research reveals.
Demographers from the centre for population and urban research at Monash University say data on skilled migrants in 2010-11 suggests most of them are not in jobs related to mining, even though that is the rationale for Australia's open-door policy.
They say the record quota for skilled visas assumes "that there are nation-wide shortages of skilled workers, and that employers everywhere should be allowed to sponsor 457s and permanent migrants in any skilled occupation, industry or location.
