PRIA wants migration reform for skilled workers
The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) has launched the Migration Taskforce, advocating for migration reform to provide relief to the communication and PR industry’s entrenched skills shortage.
The Taskforce will advocate for the National Skills Commission to include communications and PR professionals on the Long-Term Strategic Skills List, allowing permanent residency for migrants.
With supporters from 15 communications agencies, the Taskforce seeks to change Australia’s migration settings.
Shane Allison
PRIA president, Shane Allison, said increasing demand for communications and PR skills during COVID-19 has proven the industry an important part to establish trust, understanding and knowledge between organisations and stakeholders.
“This demand has placed unprecedented strain on our industry, and while we have risen to the occasion, it is clear that we need higher levels of skilled migration to plug the gap of experienced professionals and help mentor the next generation of communicators.”
He also said addressing the lack of PR and communications skills on Long-Term Strategic Skills List will make Australia a more desirable destination for skilled communicators.
“This Taskforce will not only help tackle our immediate skills crisis, but also play a critical role in bringing skilled professionals who can train and mentor the next generation of communicators who are currently training in our higher education institutions.
“We’ve written to the Immigration Minister Giles to ask for their support of our industry and look forward to engaging with the review of the Skilled Occupations List that was funded in this year’s Federal Budget.”
The National Skills Commission’s Internet Vacancy index demonstrated an 82% increase in vacancies for PR Professionals from pre-COVID-19 (January 2020) to April 2022, and a 183% increase over the past decade.
The PRIA has engaged EY to model the skills gaps across our occupation and to highlight the economic contribution of the PR profession.
The Migration Taskforce’s supporters include Sling & Stone; Herd MSL; Red Havas; Thrive PR; WE Communications; Ogilvy PR; Sefiani; The Haus; History Will Be Kind; Icon Agency; Porter Novelli; BCW; Agenda C; Salt & Shein and The Savage Company
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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This story should be told as a three part tragedy. Part One: the lack of domestic education pathways for people to qualify as a PR professional – no VET courses and Uni’s are continuing to merge their PR degrees into marketing or business. For example, one notable B. Media & Communication degree has a single PR unit of six months (the rest relates to journalism and production) in a 3 year degree. No wonder graduates need at least 12-18 months OTJ training before they become billable. And hence the historic agency complaint of the standard of Uni graduate. Solvable by actually using the existing PRIA Skills Matrix in the Uni accreditation process. Part Two: high churn and a lack of career development. The “skills gaps” refer to the large cohorts of workers who left the industry due to [insert imagination here]. The PRIA could solve this with a solid CPE program and do a detailed piece of work on enforcing acceptable industry work practices. Part Three: drop the low hanging fruit strategy. Stealing trained workers from other markets using the lure of a better life in Australia is papering over the cracks. If anything it just adds more ‘fodder to the churn’. To wrap this up neatly in a gift box, the PRIA needs to focus on fixing the domestic supply issue and high churn rate before it goes fishing abroad otherwise it’s just filling a bucket of water with a big hole in the bottom.
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They are also let down by the fact you do $10 worth of work for every $1 you earn. PR is chronically undercharged and undervalued because no one has developed a meaningful way to quantify it’s impact on business results of any value.
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Anthony is spot on.
There is no shortage of people wanting to work in PR. They are let down by poor initial training and poor CPD.
Australia needs skilled migrants like diesel mechanics and software engineers, not PR staff.
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