‘Job Creation a Mirage’: Tech CEO Calls for 90 Percent Cut to Migration to Slow Housing Bubble

‘The immigration system is completely out of control and being used for political purposes, not for the benefit of Australian citizens,’ said Freelancer’s CEO.
‘Job Creation a Mirage’: Tech CEO Calls for 90 Percent Cut to Migration to Slow Housing Bubble
People cross a street in Melbourne's central business district in Melbourne, Australia, on Aug. 14, 2024. William West/AFP via Getty Images
Alfred Bui
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Australian tech CEO Matt Barrie says the government should consider cutting international migration by 90 percent to address the “massive housing bubble” and unemployment in the country.

Speaking at a recent event in Brisbane, Barrie, the founder and CEO of Freelancer, a freelance marketplace website with over 75 million users, said migration was the main driver behind unreasonable housing prices across Australia.

Citing housing data, he said Australian house prices have risen by 110 times since 1956 and that in some cities like Sydney, it would take a person 46 years just to save for a deposit.

“If you start saving in 20, you'll have enough money for a deposit by the age of 70. By then, the house will have another zero on its price tag,” he told the Australian Institute for Progress.

“No longer do Australians have a fair go.”

According to an analysis by the financial comparison website Finder, an Australian household now must have a minimum income of $171,223 (US$116,000) per year to afford a separate house and $120,598 for a unit.
Economists surveyed by Finder also raised concerns that it was increasingly difficult for Australians to enter the housing market.

High Housing Demand Despite Low Fertility Rate

Barrie said the actual housing demand of Australians (not including immigrants) was zero.

Pointing to the fertility rate, the CEO said every Australian woman needed to have 2.1 children just to maintain the population.

Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer, accepts an award for Websites during the 19th Annual Webby Awards in New York City on May 18, 2015. (Brian Ach/Getty Images for Webby Awards)
Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer, accepts an award for Websites during the 19th Annual Webby Awards in New York City on May 18, 2015. Brian Ach/Getty Images for Webby Awards

However, he added that the current fertility rate was well below the above figure.

“We haven’t been above 2.1 since 1976–that’s the replacement rate,” Barrie said. “Australia’s fertility rate is 1.63 and dropping like a rock.”

Amid the decline, the CEO said the housing supply was unable to keep up with demand despite a “ridiculous amount of homes” being built each year.

“Australia has the second highest rate of homebuilding from a major country in the developed world, not just in terms of newly constructed homes and housing stock, but also in terms of per capita rates,” he said.

An analysis from Master Builder Australia revealed that the number of new dwelling starts was around 161,000 in the 2023-24 financial year, down from 173,000 in 2022-23 and 208,000 in 2021-22.

The above figures were still short of the target of 240,000 a year to achieve the government’s goal of building 1.2 million homes by 2029.

Barrie also cited the high number of construction cranes as evidence of Australia’s intensive building activities.

“Australia has 869 cranes on construction sites nationwide, the second-highest on record after the quarter,” he said.

“Sydney alone has 390, and the vast majority of them are for residential apartments.

“In fact, Sydney has more cranes than New York, Boston, Toronto, Washington, Chicago, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, Portland, Honolulu, San Francisco, Seattle and Calgary combined.”

Barrie then concluded that migration was the cause behind Australia’s housing problem.

“Insane immigration has caused insane rises in the cost of housing,” he said.

Workers install a window at a construction site in New South Wales, Australia, on May 6, 2024. (Roni Bintang/Getty Images)
Workers install a window at a construction site in New South Wales, Australia, on May 6, 2024. Roni Bintang/Getty Images

Barrie Calls Job Creation a Mirage

Barrie pointed out that the Australian economy currently could not provide enough jobs for immigrants.

He said there were “2.4 million people in this country on temporary visas, and over 100,000 new, permanent and long-term arrivals arriving monthly.”

The CEO gave the example of the construction industry—touted as in desperate need of workers—which added just 4,677 jobs in the past 18 months, according to data from IFM Investors.

“Builders can’t build homes at prices people can afford to pay. So where are the jobs being created in Australia?” Barrie questioned.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that overall employment increased by 455,400 in the 12 months to July 2024, well below the number of immigrants in the country.

At the same time, Barrie said most of the jobs created were related to the taxpayer-funded National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) economy—which received billions of dollars each year from the government—as well as the international student industry.

“Only 165,000 jobs were created outside of healthcare and social assistance in this entire country in the last 18 months,” he said.

“Job creation in Australia is a mirage.”

Time to Cut Migration

To tackle the housing crisis and other issues created by “uncontrolled migration,” Barrie said the government needed to cut down the migrant intake by 90 percent and review the whole system.

“We need to cost housing down, the cost of energy down, and stop government waste and immigration,” he said.

“The immigration system is completely out of control and being used for political purposes, not for the benefit of Australian citizens.”

Barrie’s remarks came as the Labor government has introduced an ambitious plan to bring immigration down to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels starting from the 2024-25 financial year.
The plan (pdf) would focus on eight areas, including reshaping temporary and permanent skilled migration to address skills needs and drive long-term economic growth, strengthening the integrity and quality of international education, and tackling worker exploitation and the misuse of the visa system.
Alfred Bui
Alfred Bui
Author
Alfred Bui is an Australian reporter based in Melbourne and focuses on local and business news. He is a former small business owner and has two master’s degrees in business and business law. Contact him at [email protected].
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