How Did Ww2 Affect Australian Economy

Prior to World War II (WWII), immigration processes were very selective. However, the aftermath of WWII left the Australian economy weak resulting in the immigration processes adapting to allow for a more immigration-accepting economy. Strategies such as guaranteeing employment, housing and education were applied to influence the international migration population. These strategies impacted the past Australian economy by influencing immigrants to come to a low populated Australia.

A major post WWII strategy used was guaranteeing the international immigration population employment, housing and in some cases, education which influenced them to come to Australia. For a fraction of this population, “the Commonwealth Government paid most of their

The demand for jobs was increasing due to the men leaving and fighting in the war (Old Treasury, n.d.). This initially gave way to women joining the workforce but also the newly arrived immigrants. The strategy was to ensure that all immigrants that came to Australia had to take up a job the Government gave. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, a group of immigrants from Greece, Croatia, Turkey and Malta seeking employment arrived in Australia (Thomson, 2014) which was ideal for the high demand of jobs required for developing the economy. With not only an increasing population but an employed one, unemployment rates dramatically reduced to a record of 0.95% post war (The Reserve Bank of Australia, 2017). This left the economy at its best regarding unemployment rates. The strategy to accept immigrants on the condition that they have to work a job assigned by the government was profitable as in the perspective of the immigrants, the government was offering guaranteed employment once they came so it was a mutual relationship when it came to profit. However, guaranteeing the fraction of unskilled immigrants with jobs was unbeneficial as it would’ve limited the type of work they could do. Unskilled immigrants would be given labour-based work which would solely rely on their physical

A major factor that contributed to this was the immigrants as by settling in Australia, their lifestyle (income, education, etc) would dictate and set the tone for the future Australian economy. A strategy that was used to impact and influence the future of our economy was ensuring that immigrants arriving in Australia had an education. Depending on the field of their work, immigrants could be, both informally and formally, be given a choice to undertake an education. One of the branches of education involved “‘intensive courses'... aimed to equip professional and semi professional migrants with adequate English for employment” (Woden Community Services, 2018) which demonstrates how the education courses would help improve their working ability as communication skills are relevant in all industries. This concept is further reinforced by how workers in the Snowy Hydro Scheme had the opportunity to undertake courses that didn’t affect their working ability but rather followed their interests. According to Carlo Aggio “my first priority was to learn English… I studied mathematics and even astronomy” (Woden Community Services, 2018). This highlights how further education opportunities were offered. In addition, this could have provided the opportunity for them to change industries after the 2 compulsory years in the job assigned by the government. This