Mayor Waller welcomes ‘eye-opening’ report on refugee employment

Mayor of Liverpool Wendy Waller welcomed the recommendations of a new research report by the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education, investigating the struggles and challenges refugees face finding work in Australia.

The report titled Refugee Employment Experiences: Struggles, Strategies and Solutions made four recommendations to help refugees’ job-seeking experience in Australia. These include providing more tailored support, shifting the focus of services from offering training to creating employment opportunities, engaging with refugees and refugee communities as partners and addressing discrimination against refugees and other migrant job seekers.

Mayor Waller said the report was ’eye-opening’ highlighting what employment and job-seeking looks like from a refugee perspective which most of us would not have had to experience.

“One of the key findings of the report was the Catch-22 many refugees say they face. For instance, many of those interviewed by the researchers consider the best way for them to learn English is in the workplace compared to formal classes but they cannot secure a job because of their limited English skills.

“The research uncovered that for many refugees formal job-seeking processes involving resumes and application letters were ineffective, and many of those interviewed were perplexed by potential employers insisting on formal qualifications for relatively unskilled jobs and expected more government support and interventions. In fact, the existing employment system based on the ability of a jobseeker to ‘sell’ themselves to a prospective employer was found to be unfamiliar to refugees.

“Overseas qualifications were also found to be consistently devalued by potential employers leaving many who arrived in Australia with high aspirations and optimism, facing a grim reality when looking for work. This has widespread implications at an individual level affecting the jobseeker’s mental health, living conditions and sense of self-worth and at a societal level for the level of unemployment in Australia,” Mayor Waller said.

For example, the report highlighted a single mother, currently living in the Liverpool Local Government Area who came to Australia in 2018 from Syria. She is a university-trained accountant, however felt pressure to pursue a more realistic employment option upon coming to Australia. She currently practices as a hairdresser and while she has some experience in this profession, it still reflects a mismatch between her qualifications and current employment.

The research, which Liverpool City Council helped facilitate, was based on in-depth qualitative interviews with 40 refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran across diverse employment backgrounds including medicine, engineering, and finance. Interviews were also conducted with 15 community leaders and eight service providers.

It concluded that the path to employment for refugees is often a long and winding road, with many eventually succeeding in securing employment after a lengthy struggle.

Mayor Waller said that for many refugees, the Liverpool Local Government Area is their first encounter with Australia and Council is committed to helping their employment journey. She said Council continues to work closely with MTC Australia, Navitas, TAFE and other training and employment services with targeted employment pathway programs including employment expos and job-ready courses.

“Through our convening role and membership of various forums including the Liverpool Refugee and Migrant Interagency, Asylum Seeker Taskforce and Refugee Welcome Zone, we are strongly positioned to represent and lobby the government and business sector on diverse challenges and gaps including employment and training.

"Council also provides funding to the community services sector who are working with migrant and refugee communities to access training and employment programs and casual employment opportunities such as the 2168 Household Survey and National Community Hubs program,” Mayor Waller said.

To read the full report:

https://www.erc.org.au/refugee_employment_experience_struggles_strategies_and_solutions_280721