Growth fears as skills dry up
By Paul Robinson
Workplace Editor
December 23, 2004
Australia's shortage of tradespeople was slowing economic growth, the ACTU warned yesterday.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow said up to 170,000 tradespeople would leave industry over the next five years but only 40,000 would be available to replace them.
"Over the next 10 years, the ACTU estimates there will be a national shortage of 250,000 traditional trades apprentices," Ms Burrow said.
"Government figures show job vacancies in the traditional trades have already risen 20 per cent in the past year and are at their highest level for 15 years."
But despite the shortage, Ms Burrow said, the Federal Government had frozen TAFE funding to 1997 levels, even though there had been a 16 per cent jump in student numbers and an unmet demand for up to 50,000 places.
"The funding freeze is forcing the closure of TAFE training facilities, putting teachers under pressure, leading to shorter courses and threatening the quality of training and skills development."
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Ms Burrow also said Government claims that it was training more than 400,000 young people for apprenticeships was misleading. She said about two-thirds of them were short-term subsidised trainees for industry. "The Government dishonestly inflated its figures during the election campaign by including short-term trainees such as kitchen hands in fast-food outlets in apprentice numbers," she said.
Ms Burrow's remarks follow revelations in The Age that a growing number of companies were going overseas in search of short-term contract labor to fill growing skilled trade vacancies in the metal, mining, electrical and construction industries.
A Dandenong transport company has hired 60 "guest" welders from China, a Ballarat company is planning to recruit 30 Chinese welders and a South African company has sent more than 30 boilermakers, fitters and carpenters to Perth.
The Master Builders Association says many companies have gone overseas in search of tilers, plasterers and specialist bricklayers and recruitment company Hudson said yesterday that major retailers would have to search overseas for merchandising and marketing personnel.
A spokeswoman for Vocational and Technical Education Minister Gary Hardgrave said the Government had earmarked skills shortages as one of its greatest challenges.
It had promised 24 new technical colleges and $880 million in new trade training measures that would target regions suffering a serious skills shortage.
theage.com.au |
