The Federal Government is set to maintain record high immigration levels, despite growing concern about the impact on young job seekers and urban congestion.

The Rudd Government has admitted it wants to bring in up to 230,000 migrants annually over the next 40 years, according to a new Immigration Department report on skilled arrivals.

This is about the same number as last year's record intake, which was cut by 18,000 places amid the global recession. Australia needed to maintain an annual migration intake of between 150,000 and 230,000 people to deal with the ageing of the workforce, said the issues paper, Select Skills: Principles for a New Migration Occupations in Demand List.

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