This paper utilises a regulatory analysis of skilled visas and insights from labour law scholarship to examine how Australian immigration law regulates ‘skill’ and the implications for migrant workers’ employment relationships. While qualifications or ‘hard skills’ act as the formal basis for selection under Australian immigration law, interpersonal attributes associated with ‘soft skills’ often decide who employers recruit. Immigration regulations that allow employers discretion to recruit based on soft skills widen scope for employer misuse and migrant worker exploitation, including for those on high-skilled visas, and for diversity bias against women and ethnic minorities. Our major theoretical contribution is to highlight how immigration laws that give employers discretion over the criteria used in skilled immigration selection intensify power imbalances within the contract of employment. The regulatory definitions of skill constructed by immigration law can thus serve as an additional lever of employer control. The findings indicate that precise regulation of skill is necessary to limit the potential for employers to exert undue control over migrants in worker selection processes.

中文翻译：

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外硬内软：澳大利亚农民工选拔政策的技能监管与雇主控制

本文利用对技术签证的监管分析和劳动法奖学金的见解来研究澳大利亚移民法如何规范“技能”以及对移民工人雇佣关系的影响。虽然根据澳大利亚移民法，资格或“硬技能”是选择的正式依据，但与“软技能”相关的人际关系属性通常决定雇主招聘谁。允许雇主根据软技能自行决定招聘的移民法规扩大了雇主滥用和剥削移民工人的范围，包括那些持有高技能签证的人，以及对妇女和少数民族的多样性偏见。我们的主要理论贡献是强调移民法赋予雇主对技术移民选择标准的自由裁量权如何加剧雇佣合同中的权力失衡。因此，移民法对技能的监管定义可以作为雇主控制的额外杠杆。调查结果表明，有必要对技能进行精确监管，以限制雇主在工人选择过程中对移民施加不当控制的可能性。