SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said on Sunday it was relaxing its migration programme to allow more skilled workers into the country where the jobless rate is at a three-decade low and most companies face a labour shortage.
The new centre-left Labor government said it was expandingthe skilled migration programme by 6,000 in 2007-08, bringingthe total number of visas to 108,500.
"Employer-sponsored visas are the highest priority becausethey put a migrant worker directly into a skilled job," ChrisEvans, Immigration and Citizenship minister, said in astatement.
The government will also expand the working holiday visaprogramme for young people, a move which is expected to benefitthe tourism and construction industries.
Australia is a nation of migrants, with nearly one-in-fourof the country's 21 million people born overseas. The boomingeconomy, which has been growing at more than 4 percentannually, is facing a huge shortage of skilled labour, pushingup wages and stoking inflationary pressures.
The unemployment rate has been under 5 percent since 2006and figures out last week showed it falling to a fresh 33-yearlow of 4.1 percent in January.
Core inflation in Australia was running at a 16-year highof 3.6 percent last quarter, forcing the central bank to hikeinterest rates to an 11-year high of 7 percent earlier thismonth. Markets are expecting one more rate hike in March as itsteps up its fight to curb inflation.
Evans said the latest package had the potential to providethousands of additional workers in the short term and wouldhelp address inflationary pressures.
(Reporting by Anirban Nag; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)