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Job Ready Program – Post-implementation Review – Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship

On 12 May 2009, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced that a ‘job readiness test’ (to be known as the Job Ready Program) would be introduced to complement existing testing requirements for applicants under Australia’s skilled migration program. The introduction of the Job Ready Program was part of a suite of changes aimed at addressing issues such as the mismatch between the skills claimed by international students applying for permanent residency and the actual occupations they worked in. The Job Ready Program introduced a requirement that meant international students who completed a trade course must have undertaken 12 months paid employment in the same skill area as they studied before they could obtain permanent residency through Australia’s skilled migration intake. As part of this requirement, the business employing the applicant was required to allow work place assessments to be conducted as well as complete forms and work place journals. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was required for the introduction of the Job Ready Program but was not prepared. As a result, a Post‑implementation Review (PIR) was jointly prepared by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation. The PIR identified that only 150 participants successfully completed the Job Ready Program over a two and a half year period. This number was significantly lower than the expected number of around 20,000 applicants per annum, based on the previous system for pre‑migration skills assessment in 2009. The PIR concluded that the Job Ready Program largely met its objectives and was a substantial improvement on the previous skills assessment process by supporting those with a genuine intention to work in their trade. The PIR also concluded that the Job Ready Program imposed minimal costs on business. The PIR also identified areas for improvement in the delivery of the Job Ready Program, including:

  • reducing the complexity of the program guidelines;
  • improving the function of the website; and
  • providing greater information to employers.