IMMIGRATION Minister Amanda Vanstone is being urged to increase the intake of skilled migrants next financial year to offset problems caused by a 28-year low in unemployment in Australia.

With an estimated 1million mainly skilled Australians working overseas, the Government needed to adopt a long-term skilled migration program to fill a growing skills vacuum, the technology industry's peak recruitment lobby said.

The Information Technology Contract and Recruitment Association said the failure to attract more skilled temporary residents would add to a looming skills shortage.

"The number of Australian professionals leaving to work on short-term assignments is expected to steadily increase to 120,000 a year by 2009," said executive director Norman Lacy. He claimed about 60,000 Australian professionals had relocated overseas on two- to four-year assignments last year.

"We need to either attract these people back to Australia or replace them with other skilled people," he said.

Mr Lacy added the Australian economy would face "the largest global skill shortage ever" in the next three years.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Doug Cameron said skilled migration was a short-term fix at the expense of younger Australian workers.