Important Changes to Labour Market Testing

For nominations lodged on or after 1 October 2020, sponsoring employers must place 3 advertisements before lodging their nomination.

  • the nominated position must now be advertised on the Government’s jobactive website
  • And two other advertisements

Advertising must be placed within the 4 months immediately before lodging a nomination application, unless the sponsor or an associated entity has made any Australian citizen or permanent resident workers redundant or retrenched them from positions (in the nominated occupation) within 4 months before lodging the nomination application, the advertising must have occurred since the date that the redundancies or retrenchments occurred.and each advert must run for 28 days and applications open for 28 days.

Note that associated entities are also included in this criteria.   An associated entity is defined in the Corporations Act.

Information about any redundancies or retrenchments must also be provided with the nomination.

In addition, the advertising of the nominated position must meet all of the requirements below:

  • the advertisement was in Australia, in English and included the following information:
    • the title, or a description, of the position.
      Note: multiple positions in one advertisement is acceptable
    • the skills or experience required for the position
    • the name of the approved sponsor or the name of the recruitment agency being used by the sponsor
    • the salary for the position – if the annual earnings for the position are lower than AUD96,400
      Note: it is acceptable to publish a salary range (for example, AUD80,000 to AUD90,000)
  • at least 2 advertisements were published in any of the below:
    • on a prominent or professional recruitment website with national reach that publishes advertisements for positions throughout Australia
      • industry specific recruitment websites relevant to the occupation that are in significant use by the industry are an acceptable method of LMT advertising
      • a general classifieds website or an advertisement solely through social media notification (such as Twitter or Instagram) are not acceptable methods. LinkedIn’s online recruitment platform is acceptable for LMT purposes. Job vacancies restricted to LinkedIn profile members only are not acceptable for LMT purposes
    • in national print media (that is, newspapers or magazines with national reach that are published at least monthly and marketed throughout Australia)
    • on national radio with national reach
    • on the business’ website if the sponsor is an accredited sponsor

Note:

  • the nominated position may be advertised in the same medium (such as newspaper advertisements, on two separate occasions) or in any two different mediums simultaneously, or on two separate occasions
  • advertising may have been undertaken by a third party if authorised to do so by the sponsor (for example, an associated entity or a contracted party, such as a recruitment agency) – there is no requirement that the sponsor placed the advertisement themselves

In Summary

Evidence of a total of 3 advertisements, including an advertisement published on the Government’s jobactive website, must be provided at the time the nomination is lodged.