Labor has vowed to prioritise local job seekers by adjusting the list of occupations that fast-track overseas workers to Western Australia if the party wins the March state election.
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said with 92,500 people unemployed in WA it made no sense to keep engineers, electricians, bricklayers, nurses, mechanics and accountants on the Skilled Migration Occupation List when locals were struggling to find jobs in those industries.
Vacancies for engineers in WA had collapsed, new dwelling commencements had fallen by 20 per cent and only 59 per cent of nurse graduates were finding work in WA, he said.
"WA's economy has dramatically changed since the height of the mining boom - we are in a recession and we need to be doing everything possible to help get West Australians back to work," Mr McGowan said.
There are currently 168 occupations on the list, which Labor says the state government has not updated for the federal government since 2014.
Mr McGowan said a refreshed list would he developed immediately if Labor won the election and would consult with industry to target skilled jobs that actually required overseas workers.
"We want to make sure that West Australians are the first in line to get WA jobs," he said.
"It does not make sense to be making these jobs available to overseas workers while we have record unemployment."
Mr McGowan conceded some employers preferred to hire overseas workers because they were cheaper and more compliant but he said that had to change.
But Premier Colin Barnett said only about 1000 of those jobs were available for overseas people with specialist skills, especially in IT and medicine.
"Whether it's in Perth or country areas, employers simply cannot find people with those skills in Western Australia," he told reporters.
"This is not a 457 temporary workforce, these are people who come out here under a business employee sponsored migration scheme.
"They come here, they bring their families, they invariably take out Australian citizenship and become West Australians.
"Why would Mark McGowan be turning his back on people who have migrated here with skills and contribute to our state and national economy?"
Mr Barnett said some people in Perth seemed unwilling to move to where the jobs were.
"Whatever your occupation is, whether you're a bricklayer, a carpenter, a medical nurse or whatever it might be, you can't expect to get that job at the end of your street," he said.
"People need to be prepared to travel where the work is."
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