The State, Immigration Policy and Labour Market Practices: The Case of Overseas-Trained Doctors

Abstract

The state has played a critical role in defining the form and character of the labour market through its regulation of immigration. This paper considers the implications of the waves of migrant labour as driven by the state, with a special focus on overseas-qualified professionals. 1 Emerging from this discussion is an assessment of the immigration and settlement policies which have established, reinforced and also reflected the dominant cultural milieu in the broader Australian society and the labour market. Following this is an exploration of the implications of the policy rhetoric on the labour market entry of overseas-qualified professionals, with a focus on overseas-trained doctors as a case in point. The paper seeks to answer the following question: How, if at all, have labour market practices—including accreditation and labour market entry—relating to overseas-qualified professionals been influenced by the shift in the official rhetoric dominating migrant settlement and labour market integration as driven by the changing nature of migration? To explore this question, this paper is divided into two sections. Part one examines the state-driven socio-cultural policy trends throughout the post World War II period and how and why these shifts in policy have directly shaped the labour market experience of skilled migrant labour. Following the examination of the dominant sociocultural paradigm, part two explores the effect of the major state-driven policy shifts on overseas-qualified professionals—with a specific focus on overseas-trained doctors. The conclusion drawn is that the medical profession strictly directs the registration and labour market access of overseas-trained doctors based on factors that contravene the broader state policy, raising calls for a more active approach to monitoring professional practice by the state and related institutional bodies.