Francisco Rowe

Mobility Patterns of Overseas Human Capital in Australia: the role of a ‘new’ graduate visa scheme and rural development policy

ABSTRACT In 2007, the Australian federal government introduced a ‘new’ graduate visa scheme, the 485 visa sub-class. This visa facilitates the transition from student to worker for overseas graduates from Australian higher education institutions, with the potential to significantly increase their numbers in the country. At the same time, local governments have introduced various policies designed to attract and retain human capital in rural areas to address the shortfall of highly skilled individuals. This paper redresses the current lack of research into the spatial dynamics of overseas human capital in Australia and their relation to the new visa scheme in combination with shifts in rural development policies. Drawing on survey data of graduates describing the ‘before’ (2005) and ‘after’ (2008) periods of the introduction of the 485 visa scheme, this paper shows that the propensity of overseas graduates to move between Australias regions has increased substantially. In particular, there have been an increasing proportion of overseas graduates moving to major cities despite rural development policy efforts to attract human capital to rural areas. However, these policy efforts appear to have attracted overseas graduates with particular qualifications (education and health) to work in such locales.

Evaluating the effects of Australian policy changes on human capital: the role of a graduate visa scheme

High-skilled migration across international borders is becoming increasingly important in policy and academic debates. In Australia, the recognition of the importance of attracting and retaining highly skilled individuals has stimulated fundamental shifts in immigration policies. This paper explores the impacts of one of these policy shifts in focusing on the introduction of a graduate visa scheme. The scheme was introduced in Australia for the first time in September 2007 offering international graduates from Australian universities 18 months of working rights post-graduation. Since the implementation of this visa scheme there has been a sharp increase in the number of overseas graduates staying in Australia. However, no research has been carried out that investigates the working conditions and interregional migration patterns of these graduates remaining in Australia under this temporary 18 months visa. Through the exploration of individual survey data describing the 2005 and 2008 cohorts of graduates representing the ‘before’ and ‘after’ the graduate visa scheme introduction this paper explores the impact of the visa scheme through analysing and comparing the working conditions and migration patterns of two cohorts of graduates. Findings suggest that although the introduction of the graduate visa scheme attracted more international students/graduates into the country, our analysis highlighted that the average working conditions of the international graduates who decided to remain in Australia worsened. Comparing these results with their domestic (Australian) graduate counterparts revealed that this was not due to the overall state of the Australian economy over the period under consideration.

An evolutionary approach to the delimitation of labour market areas: an empirical application for Chile

ABSTRACT An evolutionary approach to the delimitation of labour market areas: an empirical application for Chile. Spatial Economic Analysis. Labour market areas (LMAs) are argued to represent a more appropriate policy framework than administrative units for the analysis of spatial labour market activity. This article develops LMAs for Chile by applying an evolutionary computation approach. This innovative approach defines LMAs through an optimization process by maximization of internal cohesion, subject to restrictions of minimum levels of self-containment and population. To evaluate the appropriateness of the LMAs, comparative analyses are performed between alternative delimitations based on different parameter configurations of the proposed method versus administrative boundaries and the most widely used method for official LMA delimitation, the travel-to-work areas method.

Comparing internal migration across the countries of Latin America: A multidimensional approach

While considerable progress has been made in understanding the way particular aspects of internal migration, such as its intensity, age profile and spatial impact, vary between countries around the world, little attention to date has been given to establishing how these dimensions of migration interact in different national settings. We use recently developed measures of internal migration that are scale-independent to compare the overall intensity, age composition, spatial impact, and distance profile of internal migration in 19 Latin American countries. Comparisons reveal substantial cross-national variation but cluster analysis suggests the different dimensions of migration evolve systematically to form a broad sequence characterised by low intensities, young ages at migration, unbalanced flows and high friction of distance at lower levels of development, trending to high intensities, an older age profile of migration, more closely balanced flows and lower friction of distance at later stages of development. However, the transition is not linear and local contingencies, such as international migration and political control, often distort the migration-development nexus, leading to unique migration patterns in individual national contexts.

Spatial Mobility Patterns of Overseas Graduates in Australia

In light of pronounced and persistent labour and skill shortages in non-metropolitan areas, Australia has sought to develop and maintain a comprehensive immigration policy framework and development policies to attract and retain overseas graduates from local Higher Education Institutions. While prior work has shed light on the employment outcomes and the individual characteristics that promote settlement outside major cities, less is known about the post-graduation migration patterns and redistribution of overseas graduates following graduation. Drawing on data from the Australian Graduate Survey, this chapter explores the key spatial patterns and redistribution of overseas graduates in Australia. The results highlight the propensity of overseas graduates to cluster in the metropolitan areas of New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland for employment following graduation. Overseas graduates are more likely to study in regional areas than their domestic counterparts, but are also more likely to move to major metropolitan areas after graduation. Overseas graduates are drawn to major metropolitan regions by social and economic ties, particularly to migrant communities within major cities. The clear preference of overseas graduates for metropolitan areas highlights that existing rural development policies have a limited demonstrated capacity to redirect overseas graduates to work in non-metropolitan areas and suggests a need for future policies to consider ways in which particular factors – such as a sense of attachment from previous study and living experience in a non-metropolitan locale – affect desired migratory outcomes.

The Geography and Determinants of Regional Human Capital in Eight Latin American and Caribbean Countries

There is broad consensus concerning the importance of human capital in economic development (Lucas 1988; Barro 1992). Human capital accumulation stimulates economic growth and development through direct and indirect transmission channels (Lucas 1988; Mathur 1999). A large endowment of highly educated individuals in a region plays a key role in local economic performance, accelerating the rate of technological change, innovations, diffusion inventions and emergence of entrepreneurs (Mathur 1999; Desrochers and Leppala 2011). Spatial concentration of human capital also promotes knowledge spill overs, enhancing the linkages between new ideas, technology and economic development (Jacobs 1969).

Establishing the extent and pace of the contemporary trend of migration decline in Europe

This article presents some of the key findings of a Regional Studies Association funded project on internal migration in Europe – “Understanding the declining trend in internal migration in Europe”. The project aims to examine the long-term trend of migration rates in 27 European countries. Specifically, two of the key aims are: (1) to assess the prevalence of migration decline in Europe; and, (2) to establish the start and pace of this contemporary trend.

How is internal migration reshaping metropolitan populations in Latin America? A new method and new evidence

Internal migration is a key driver of patterns of human settlement and socio-economic development, but little is known about its compositional impacts. Exploiting the wide availability of census data, we propose a method to quantify the internal migration impacts on local population structures, and estimate these impacts for eight large Latin American cities. We show that internal migration generally had small feminizing, downgrading educational, and demographic window effects: reducing the local sex ratio, lowering the average years of schooling, and raising the share of working-age population due to an increased young adult population. Over time, a rise in the proportion of males and a drop in the share of the young adult population moving into cities reduced the feminizing and demographic window effects. Concurrently, a rise in the average years of schooling associated with people moving into cities attenuated the downgrading impact of internal migration on local education levels.

The role of migration on education–job mismatch: evidence from overseas graduates in Australia: An International Perspective

The number of domestically educated overseas graduates remaining in Australia after graduation has risen significantly since 2007. There is growing evidence to suggest that overseas graduates have a high probability of being employed in lower-skilled jobs that do not match their educational qualifications. A lack of spatial flexibility in terms of geographic mobility underlies this outcome. Prior work has examined the role of long-distance commuting in reducing the chance of experiencing an education_–job mismatch, but there is limited empirical research on the way migration acts as a strategy to overcome this misalignment. Compared to long-distance commuting, migration enables a larger geographical scope of job search and thus is regarded as offering a greater potential in mitigating education–job mismatch. Drawing on annual data from the Australian Graduate Survey between 2008 and 2012, this chapter examines the role of internal migration in lowering the likelihood of overseas graduates experiencing an education–job mismatch. Results highlight that migration leads to a reduction of education–job mismatch among overseas graduates. Nonetheless, the extent of this impact is marginal, lowering the probability by only 2–3 per cent. This modest effect is attributed to the tendency of overseas graduates to echo the settlement patterns of long-standing migrants and relocate to metropolitan regions that typically have a higher incidence of education–job mismatch.

The impacts of policy changes on overseas human capital in Australia The implementation of the 485 graduate visa scheme

© 2017, Routledge. This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Applied Spatial Modelling and Planning on 4 Oct 2016, available online: https://www.routledge.com/Applied-Spatial-Modelling-and-Planning/Lombard-Stern-Clarke/p/book/9781138925700.