“The Government should permanently extend the COVID concessions allowing foreign students to work unlimited hours and consider extending the existing work rights of foreign students after graduation," Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
"Skills and labour shortages hitting our members are ongoing and for labour intensive industries such as fast food and hospitality, foreign students have kept the doors open in many cases. International students have been important in filling the gaps created by a combination of labour shortages and COVID and flu absences.
"We could easily soak up all the foreign engineering and ICT graduates, for example, and still be short of demand,” Mr Willox said.
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