Jobs and Skills Australia has recently released its Phase 1 Jobs and Skills Roadmap for Regional Australia which sets out a long-term framework to improve the effectiveness, equity, and efficiency of the jobs and skills system across regional areas.
The Roadmap’s vision is that “the jobs and skills system in Regional Australia helps realise the aspirations of its people.”
The Roadmap highlights the need for tailored, locally responsive solutions and aims to guide future policy and program design in collaboration with regional stakeholders.
A key focus of the Roadmap is addressing persistent structural barriers in regional communities, including youth disengagement, low tertiary participation, and long-term reliance on income support.
Metrics in the accompanying Phase 1 Roadmap Factsheet identify concerning performance in regional Australia on key indicators such as:
- school non-attendance (14.6% and weakening, with non-attendance rates 4.1% above the major city rates)
- youth not in education or employment ((NEET) 15.3% and weakening, and the performance in major cities being 5.9% better), and
- youth tertiary participation rates (22.2% and stable, but a 15.2% gap below participation in major cities).
These challenges are particularly relevant for VET, as they point to the need for targeted support and improved retention in training pathways.
Interestingly completion rates for apprentices and trainees in regional areas are higher than in major cities (a 56.7% completion rate for regional apprentices and trainees who commenced their studies in 2019, compared to 52.8% for those in the cities).
The Roadmap sets out 10 design principles for policy and service delivery, which if adopted will have implications for VET. These principles call for changes such as co-design with local communities, more funding for regional institutions (particularly for remote areas and for the funding to be ‘block’ grants rather than activity-based), support for government service provision including through TAFE, the piloting of new models, and a shift away from short-term or one-size-fits-all approaches.
The Roadmap also suggests a range of further actions, including the following, which Jobs and Skills Australia intend to discuss with the sector in their work to develop Phase 2 of the Roadmap:
- “The skills needs of regional and remote areas often differ to those of the Major Cities. Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments (where applicable) should work towards identifying such differences in all future skills needs lists.
- More comprehensive, frequent and useful data for Regional Australia is needed in relation to:
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- foundational skills – particularly among adults
- workforce and skills needs, particularly in remote Australia
- education and employment pathways of students and youth, including through the continuing integration of linked datasets to enable more effective evaluation of outcomes over time
- economic activity by region, to support insights into labour productivity
- barriers to participation in education and employment faced by young people under the age of 18
- greater collection of qualitative data to enhance and complement quantitative data including those related to people’s experiences and wellbeing.
- Using place-based and centralised points-of-contact (‘hubs’) for students and jobseekers alike has proven successful in some regions (including cross-government initiatives), noting the need to ensure access to services for those who are more isolated from transport links.”
