This article presents an historical and comparative analysis of the bargaining power and agency conferred upon migrant workers in Australia under distinct policy regimes. Through an assessment of four criteria – residency status, mobility, skill thresholds and institutional protections – we find that migrant workers arriving in Australia in the period from 1973 to 1996 had high levels of bargaining power and agency. Since 1996, migrant workers’ power and agency has been incrementally curtailed, to the extent that Australia’s labour immigration policy resembles a guest-worker regime where migrants’ rights are restricted, their capacity to bargain for decent working conditions with their employers is truncated and their agency to pursue opportunities available to citizens and permanent residents is diminished. In contrast to recent assessments that Australia’s temporary visa system is working effectively, our analysis indicates that it is failing to protect temporary migrants at work. JEL Codes: J24, J61, J83

中文翻译：

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来宾状态？澳大利亚移民劳工的权力下降和代理

本文介绍了在不同政策制度下赋予澳大利亚移民工人的议价能力和代理权的历史和比较分析。通过对四个标准（居住状态，流动性，技能门槛和机构保护）的评估，我们发现1973年至1996年间抵达澳大利亚的移民工人具有很高的议价能力和代理权。自1996年以来，移民工人的权力和代理权已逐渐减少，以致澳大利亚的劳工移民政策类似于宾客制度，其中移民权利受到限制，他们与雇主讨价还价的体面工作条件的能力被削弱，寻求公民和永久居民可用机会的机构减少了。与最近的评估显示澳大利亚的临时签证制度有效运行相反，我们的分析表明，该制度未能保护工作中的临时移民。JEL代码：J24，J61，J83