Indian taxi drivers to outnumber Australian-born: ABS

Singh Sabha Bhangra dance troupe.All work and play ... A group of Indian taxi drivers that have formed a bollywoood dance troupe. Docklands Studios Source: News Corp Australia

This multicultural milestone will be the first time that Australian-born workers in a major occupation have been outnumbered by workers from a single overseas country since the Australian Bureau of Statistics has kept records.

While Australian-born workers make up less than half of all workers in low-paying, manual professions like sewing machine operators and clothing trades workers, Australian is still the most common nationality among those employees.

However the most popular country of birth of automobile drivers - made up of cabbies and chauffeurs - is set to become India in the next year.

And it has meant adjustments for both taxi passengers as well as the taxi industry.

In an Australian taxi, getting from A to B is only one part of the service.

"One of the other things we've found is particularly where English is a driver's second language, it was easier for (Indian drivers) to not really to be engaged in the banter and the communication that you might expect out of an Australian-born driver," said Blair Davies, CEO of the Australian Taxi Industry Association.

"I think that frustrated some Australians who were used to jumping in a cab and talking generally about things with their cab driver."

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Dr Yadu Singh, the President of one of the country's Australian Indian Associations, also recognises that the traditional Indian approach to service has not always worked well in Australia's taxis.

"Indians generally will keep to themselves. They will do the job and do it politely," he said.

"They are not psychologists, they are not counsellors, so they don't actually start a dialogue. However, they will take part in a dialogue if the other person is doing it."

Conversation aside, the taxi industry has had to tighten regulations to improve the basic skills of this large influx of new drivers.

"Without a doubt it took the industry a while to adjust to the influx of Indian taxi drivers," said Mr Davies.

"They were coming into the industry with a different skillset and we needed to adjust the training programs to build on the strengths that they had and address any weaknesses."

Driving a taxi for past six years ... Dilbir Singh loves being a cabbie in Melbourne. Picture: Tony Gough Source: News Corp Australia

The Australian taxi industry alongside the state regulatory bodies has now introduced greater standards of English language testing, improved the driving skill component in training courses and required drivers to hold a local drivers license for at least a year.

The rise in Indian taxi drivers - from around 2000 in 2006 to more than 6000 in 2011 - is partly attributed to Australia's success in attracting Indian students to its education system.

"The reasons are probably linked to education," said David Chalke, social analyst and consultant to AustraliaSCAN.

"There's been a big push to sell education in Australia to the subcontinent which has produced a large number of subcontinent students looking to make a bit of money on the side."

As a result, an Indian-speaking taxi driver is more likely to have finished high school than an English-speaking one, according to ABS Census data.

"There aren't necessarily the jobs available in the area (in which the student graduated) so they end up taxi driving. A lot of those education visas were those that allow you to graduate and then work," said Mr Chalke.

Between 2006 and 2011, Australian-born automobile drivers - made up of taxi and chauffeur drivers - declined by around 1400, while Indian-born drivers increased by more than 4000 according to the ABS Census.

Sometime in the next year, Indian-born automobile drivers are scheduled to outnumber drivers who are Australian-born.

The shift is significant. As a comparison, in 1966 there were a relatively high number of UK-born manufacturing workers in Australia. Yet Australian-born manufacturing workers still outnumbered Brits more than five-to-one.

The pattern around Indian taxi drivers is more pronounced in some areas of Australia than others.

South Australia and Victoria are already home to more Indian-born cabbies.

"(Indian drivers) have tended to aggregate in some cities rather than others," said Mr Chalke.

"It's been less in Brisbane for example than it has been in Melbourne."

Alongside automobile drivers and workers in the textile industry, housekeepers and chefs are also among the occupations with the highest proportions of overseas-born workers.

"If you're a recent migrant and you've got poor English and all you can do is work a sewing machine, well that's probably where you're going to end up," said Mr Chalke.

Yet not all migrants have found footholds only in low-paying industries.

Foreign-born workers also represent more than half of all GPs and dental practitioners.

Top 10 jobs with highest proportion of overseas-born workers

Automobile Drivers

Sewing Machinists

Clothing Trades Workers

Generalist Medical Practitioners

Dental Practitioners

Software and Applications Programmers

Social Professionals

ICT Support and Test Engineers

Housekeepers

Chefs

Source: ABS Census 2011