FACT SHEET 1: Migrant Workers in Frontline Care
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FACT SHEET 1: Migrant Workers in Frontline Care Christine Eastman, Sara Charlesworth & Elizabeth Hill1 Migrants form a significant and growing portion of Who are Australia’s Frontline Care Workers? Australia’s non-professional frontline care workforce. Frontline care workers make up the ABS Occupational Definitions (ABS 2018) majority of the direct care workforce in Australia and Child Carers (4211): Provide care and supervision for children in provide personal care to young children, the elderly residential homes and non-residential childcare centres. This and people with a disability. includes Child Care Workers, Family Day Care Workers, Nannies, Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Out of School Hours Care Workers. Census of Population and Housing and other ABS Aged and Disabled Carers (4231): Provide general household 2 surveys show the main demographic and assistance, emotional support, care and companionship for aged employment characteristics of overseas-born or disabled people in their own homes. workers in the three main frontline care Personal Care Assistants (423313): Provide routine personal care occupations: child carers, aged and disability carers, services to people in a range of health care facilities or in a and personal care assistants. These occupations are person's home. Tasks include assisting patients with their ranked as ‘low-skilled’ at Level 4 in the five-level personal care needs such as showering, dressing and eating, as Australian & New Zealand Standard Classification of well as their mobility and communication needs. Occupations (ANZSCO). Australia’s migrant care workers are on average younger, less likely to be male and have a higher level of formal qualifications than their Australian born peers. They increasingly come from non-English speaking countries, with recent migrants more likely to arrive on temporary visas. The shifting composition of Australia’s care workforce requires policymakers to ensure better integration of migration policies and employment strategies, and to address the potential vulnerability of newly arrived migrants working in these occupations. Demographics In 2016, 37.1% of Australia’s 295,324 frontline care workers were born overseas, up from 31.2% in 2011, and higher than the proportion of overseas-born workers in the total workforce (30.6%). Overseas-born Care Workers 2011-2016 Figure 1: Overseas-born Workers in Care Occupations Within each of the three care occupations and the Total Workforce, Census 2011 and 2016 significant increases in the share of overseas- 60 50.2 50 43.7 born workers were recorded between 2011 and 37.0 37.1 40 34.6 33.0 31.2 30.6 2016: from 26.2% to 34.6% among child carers, 26.2 28.0 % 30 from 33% to 37% among aged and disabled 20 carers, and from 43.7% to 50.2% among 10 personal care assistants (Figure 1). In the same 0 Child Carers Aged and Personal Total Care Total period, the share of overseas-born workers Disabled Care Workforce Australian throughout Australia’s total workforce Carers Assistants Workforce increased only slightly, from 28% to 30.6%. 2011 2016 1 Fact Sheet 1 is output from Australia Research Council DP160100175, Markets, Migration and the Work of Care in Australia and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Grant No. 895-2012-1021, Gender, Migration and the Work of Care. Corresponding author: Professor Sara Charlesworth, RMIT University: [email protected] 2 This fact sheet draws on ACMID and CoRMS data, in addition to Census data. Gender Figure 2: Percentage Growth in Overseas-born Care Workers by Almost nine in ten (87.5%) of the total Gender (2011-2016), Census 2011 and 2016 Australian frontline care workforce is 180 157.8 female. Of all overseas-born care 160 workers, 85% are female. Between 140 2011 and 2016 the proportion of male 120 100 workers has grown in each % 80 70.6 68.0 54.3 57.5 occupational category, suggesting a 60 46.3 44.5 36.6 31.9 40 29.0 trend towards the recruitment of male 18.1 15.9 migrant care workers (Figure 2). 20 0 However, overall numbers of male Child Carers Aged and Disabled Personal Carers Total Care overseas-born care workers remain Carers Workforce low. Among the overseas-born care All Migrant Care Workers Male Migrant Care Workers workforce, 4.3% of child carers, 23.8% of aged and disabled carers and 18.3% Female Migrant Care Workers of personal care assistants are male. Age Profile Figure 3: Age Profile of Overseas and Australian-born Care Overseas-born care workers have a Workers, Census 2016 more compressed age profile than 20 their Australian-born counterparts 15 (Figure 3). Migrant child carers (median age of 35-39) are typically % 10 older than Australian-born child carers 5 (25-29), but migrant aged and disabled 0 carers are slightly younger (median age 45 vs 48) as are migrant personal care assistants (median 40-44 vs 45- Age 49). Overseas Born Australian Born Education Figure 4: Post High-School Qualifications of Overseas and Overseas-born care workers have Australian-born Care Workers, Census 2016 higher levels of formal education than 100 86.4 Australian-born care workers (Figure 90 4). Australian-born care workers are 80 70 64.9 more likely to hold a Certificate or 60 Diploma than their overseas-born % 50 counterparts. However, 24.3% of 40 overseas-born care workers hold a 30 24.3 20 bachelor degree, compared to 8.4% of 8.4 4.6 7.2 10 3.6 0.7 Australian-born care workers, while 0 7.2% of migrant care workers hold a Certificate or Bachelor Degree Graduate Postgraduate postgraduate degree, compared to Diploma Certificte or Degree just 0.7% of their Australian-born Graduate Diploma peers. Australian Born Overseas Born Care Workers Migration Pathways Migrant Care Workers from Non-Main English- Figure 5: Care Workers Born in Non-Main English- Speaking Countries Speaking Countries, Census 2011 and 2016 50 41.9 The proportion of Australia’s frontline care workers 40 33.5 who come from non-main English-speaking 27.3 26.4 28.3 30 21.2 21.3 3 % 18.3 16.920.1 countries has increased across all three care 20 occupations between 2011-2016. As seen in Figure 10 5, the proportion of frontline carers born in non- 0 main English-speaking countries is much higher than Child Carers Aged and Personal Total Care Total is the case for the total Australian workforce. Disabled Care Workforce Australian Carers Assistants Workforce 2011 2016 Region of Birth There has been a distinct change in the composition of the overseas-born care workforce over time (Figure 6). There is a clear growth in the proportion of workers born in Southern Asia (mainly India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh), as well as a steady increase in the proportion of workers from Africa, and since 1976 stable inflows of workers from Maritime South-East Asia (mainly the Philippines). The proportion of care workers born in the United Kingdom and New Zealand have declined dramatically over time. Figure 6: Overseas-born Frontline Care Workforce - Region of Birth by Year of Arrival, Census 2016 10% Other 21% 23% 26% 26% 2% 3% 4% 4% 2% 4% 4% 2% 5% 8% 2% 5% 5% 6% 3% 9% 2% 8% 7% 5% S and E Africa 2% 4% 3% 8% 8% 3% 4% 13% 3% M'time SE Asia 5% 8% 18% 11% 9% 14% 11% 11% 35% 48% Southern Asia 3% 10% 15% 19% 11% 8% 6% United Kingdom 1975 and earlier 1976-1985 1986-1995 1996-2005 Arrived 2006-Aug 2016 United Kingdom Southern Asia Maritime South-East Asia New Zealand Southern and East Africa Chinese Asia Mainland South-East Asia Middle East South America Western Europe Other regions 3 It is important to note that being from a non-main English-speaking country (non-MESC) does not imply a lack of proficiency in English. Visa Pathways The Census does not collect data on visas held by overseas-born workers. The Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset (ACMID)4 provides data from the 2011 Census and the Department of Social Services settlement database on visas held by permanent migrants who entered Australia between 2000 and 2011, as of the 2011 census date. There were three different types of visa holders: humanitarian, family reunification and skilled. Figure 7, below, shows that most entrants arrived as family and skilled visa holders. The annual proportion of those who held humanitarian and family visas decreased over time, whereas those who held skilled visas increased. However, this trend appeared to reverse as of 2009, which may reflect the stricter migration criteria for permanent skilled visa holders after this time. Figure 7: Visa Type held by Recent Migrant Care Workers with Permanent Residence, ACMID 2011 4.4% 6.9% 10.4% 6.0% 5.4% 5.7% 12.1% 12.2% 13.5% 14.5% 16.3% 14.6% 2.2% 2.3% 3.3% 2.4% 1.8% 2.3% 2.9% 2.7% 2.7% 3.3% 31.6% 33.8% 33.8% 42.7% 45.5% 34.1% 33.0% 47.5% 46.1% 38.1% 37.8% 45.3% 3.4% 3.4% 4.2% 3.3% 3.9% 5.3% 7.7% 4.7% 2.7% 4.5% 3.3% 2.4% 45.8% 46.6% 41.0% 41.2% 38.3% 37.2% 35.8% 36.1% 34.7% 32.0% 31.2% 32.6% 8.3% 8.9% 10.6% 12.2% 9.7% 3.8% 2.6% 4.5% 4.7% 4.0% 4.9% 7.1% < 2000 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Male Skilled Female Skilled Male Family Female Family Male Humanitarian Female Humanitarian Permanent or Temporary? Figure 8: Visa Status of Recently Arrived Migrant Care Workers, CoRMs 2016 The Characteristics of Recent Australian Migrants (CoRMs) survey 2016 is a labour force survey that provides information on migrants 90 who arrived between 2006 and 2016 on both permanent and 80 76.3 temporary visas.5 Figure 8 indicates that of those working as care 70 workers in 2016, 46.8% had arrived on temporary visas in the 2007- 60 2011 period.