The report, entitled Billion Dollar Benefit - says that once skilled migrants and refugees are in Australia, they struggle to find a foothold in the local jobs market.
Australia needs to fill 30,000 engineer positions - but the report says half of all migrant engineers are unemployed or working in other sectors.
But the report also identified some practical and systemic problems.
57 per cent of asylum seekers in Australia are not allowed to work.
Nearly two-thirds of workers on temporary visas are paid less than the minimum standard.
And only 33 per cent of permanent entrants whose post-school qualifications are recognised in Australia, something that Settlement Services International describes as a recipe for exploitation and unemployment.
