Consyl Publishing & Publicity Ltd

Consyl Publishing & Publicity Ltd

Home > Our Publications > Australian Outlook> 2006 > July

More skilled needed in SA

MORE than 45 trades and professions in South Australia are struggling to find skilled workers, a report has revealed.
The latest federal Employment and Workplace Relations Department Skills in Demand report found skills shortages in more than 30 trades and professions.
A further 15 industries had recruitment problems or shortages in regional or metropolitan areas.
The report also lists another 16 trades considered to be in high demand but with "insufficient information" for a labour market rating.
Several industry associations, and SA Unions, said the skills shortage would reach crisis point in the next decade if action was not taken now to increase training opportunities.
ETSA Utilities is one South Australian company that since last June has been forced to hire more than 58 skilled workers from the UK, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa and the Philippines.
ETSA's general manager of construction and maintenance services, Jeff Bament, said that despite the success of the programme, overseas recruiting was a short-term solution for the company.
"Although our long-term solution is to recruit and train apprentices and employ skilled Australians - we simply cannot get enough workers," he said.
"Overseas recruiting is a short-term solution to the shortage, and it will fill the gap while we train our apprentices."
Motor Trade Association executive director John Chapman said the association also had begun searching internationally for recruits.
"But that's not going to fix things long-term - we need to look at training people in the right skills," he said.
On top of chronic labour shortages, the booming commodities sector poses another threat to already stretched industries.
The Centre for Economic Studies in Adelaide this week said skilled workers were being lured away from other industries to work in resources sector.
The state's manufacturing industry, which has a workforce of more than 90,000 and produces about 14 per cent of Gross State Product, is one industry struggling to till positions.
One-third of the state's manufacturing workforce will approach retirement age during the next 10 years, with labour demand projected to outstrip supply by 2015. Defence, ICT and Electronics Industries are also in the midst of a boom.
The Electronics Industry Association predicts it will need to find 5000 workers over the next nine years to keep the industry rolling.
President Anthony Kittel said the situation had become so desperate the association had invested heavily in several new programs to encourage youth to choose electronics careers.
Education, Training and Further Education Minister Paul Caica said the State Government had recently announced 2000 additional places for apprenticeships and was working to identify industry skill need in South Australia.