Posted to Letters to the Editor, Monash Weekly 21/1/2011
Title: Future of Australian Graduates
Australia is truly blessed by abundance of minerals, and the vast land was terrific for large-scale farming. In addition to minerals, wheat, sheep, cattle and wool became the major exports and moneymaking items.
As an English speaking country, Australia benefited from the spin-off of the Industrial Revolution. Large factories were set up which absorbed almost anyone and everyone who wanted to work after the Second World War. As the national wealth grew, so did the standard of living. In fact, blue-collar workers were making more money than the white-collar workers.
Machineries introduced earlier required replacement and cost a great deal. Compounding the problem was the rise of industrialisation in Japan, followed by other Asian countries. Due to the cheaper labour cost, many countries began importing goods from these overseas instead of manufacturing them. One by one, our manufacturing business closed.
Primary industries and mining kept the country going. The service industry replaced the manufacturing, and then came the I.T. Revolution. Many I.T. gurus predicted that the computers would create employment and give us more leisure time. Computers help to create many new jobs on one hand, and take away many more blue-collars jobs, too. They also make us work day and night.
Since the global village has no boundaries, using a computer with multimedia capability and Internet connection, any Australian office can be located somewhere else in the world. Consequently, office jobs have been outsourced to overseas countries, for examples, call centres and I.T. jobs being outsourced to India.
To overcome the problems of conforming to the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) or legal requirement, entrepreneurs in Australia or overseas set up overseas companies, where labour cost is low. They employ ex-overseas students studying in the Australian TAFES or universities, or students trained by institutions which sent teachers / lecturers overseas on secondment or exchange program.
China - the factory of the world now; China - the office of the world, soon! I am truly concerned about the employment prospect of our Australian graduands!
Title: Future of Australian Graduates
Australia is truly blessed by abundance of minerals, and the vast land was terrific for large-scale farming. In addition to minerals, wheat, sheep, cattle and wool became the major exports and moneymaking items.
As an English speaking country, Australia benefited from the spin-off of the Industrial Revolution. Large factories were set up which absorbed almost anyone and everyone who wanted to work after the Second World War. As the national wealth grew, so did the standard of living. In fact, blue-collar workers were making more money than the white-collar workers.
Machineries introduced earlier required replacement and cost a great deal. Compounding the problem was the rise of industrialisation in Japan, followed by other Asian countries. Due to the cheaper labour cost, many countries began importing goods from these overseas instead of manufacturing them. One by one, our manufacturing business closed.
Primary industries and mining kept the country going. The service industry replaced the manufacturing, and then came the I.T. Revolution. Many I.T. gurus predicted that the computers would create employment and give us more leisure time. Computers help to create many new jobs on one hand, and take away many more blue-collars jobs, too. They also make us work day and night.
Since the global village has no boundaries, using a computer with multimedia capability and Internet connection, any Australian office can be located somewhere else in the world. Consequently, office jobs have been outsourced to overseas countries, for examples, call centres and I.T. jobs being outsourced to India.
To overcome the problems of conforming to the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) or legal requirement, entrepreneurs in Australia or overseas set up overseas companies, where labour cost is low. They employ ex-overseas students studying in the Australian TAFES or universities, or students trained by institutions which sent teachers / lecturers overseas on secondment or exchange program.
China - the factory of the world now; China - the office of the world, soon! I am truly concerned about the employment prospect of our Australian graduands!
