As Australia's Minister for Immigration Chris Evans stated, amid the global economic crisis the country cannot accept many people who would compete with local residents for the shrinking number of jobs.
It should be noted that Australia regulates the influx of immigrants by profession. At the end of last year, hairdressers and cooks were removed from the list of occupations experiencing a shortage of workers. This time, the cuts will mainly affect workers in construction trades: bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters. Doctors, engineers, and computer specialists remain on the list for now.
As BBC notes, in recent years Australia's economy has developed through the extraction and export of minerals (oil, coal, uranium, manganese, chromium). However, in February the unemployment rate in the country reached 5.2%, and by the middle of next year, according to experts, it could rise to 7%. Last year, for the first time since the beginning of the century, Australia's GDP fell by 0.5%.
Australia's population is about 21 million people, 60% of whom live in the five largest cities - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. The vast central areas of the continent are sparsely populated.