Labour Mobility and Mutual Recognition of Skills and Qualifications: The European Union and Australia/New Zealand

Abstract

Migration is an age-old new phenomenon. Before the First World War there were few border controls and although the subsequent introduction of passports restricted the movements of people, the improvement in mass transportation has now increased the opportunities for migration. After the Second World War, labour shortages in many economies around the globe encouraged large migrations, not only to the traditional New World destinations, such as the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but also to Europe (Chiswick & Hatton, 2002). Economic co-operation agreements between nations (e.g. Australia/New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (CER); the European Union (EU); the North American Free Trade Agreement; and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)) have facilitated the increase in migration over the last fifty years. Economic co-operation agreements deal with labour mobility in several ways, ranging from allowing permanent migration, including that of non-workers, to the temporary movement of service suppliers who are explicitly excluded from entry into the labour market and permanent migration. Temporary movements of persons across borders for the provision of services are allowed under Mode 4 of GATS. Geographic proximity, the level of economic development and the nature of labour shortages generally determine how liberal an approach is taken towards the movement of labour under these agreements. The agreements often include clauses streamlining regulations dealing with the mobility of goods and services across borders. Some agreements include mutual recognition of qualifications and occupational registration, mainly at the professional levels. Mutual recognition of qualifications, however, remains one of the most significant factors inhibiting the mobility of labour across borders. Not only has this been a problem in international structures, such as the EU, but until recently it was also the case within countries (e.g. Australia). This chapter looks at policies, programmes and measures that encourage the mutual recognition of qualifications and cross-border mobility. It describes developments in the EU and in Australia and New Zealand. The EU has evolved over the last half century from a union of six countries to twenty-five countries today. One of the founding principles establishing it was the free right of its citizens to live and