The Australian Government has just released an issues paper as a prelude to this week’s Jobs and Skills Summit to be held on 1 and 2 September at Parliament House, Canberra.
The summit is said to be the current ‘hottest ticket in town’ and aims to “bring together Australians, including unions, employers, civil society, and government, to discuss our shared economic challenges and propose both immediate and long-term solutions.”
Only around 100 people will be invited, with the split reported to be about 30% from business, 30% from unions, 30% from community groups and academics and the remaining 10% from state and local government.
The Summit has 5 themes, including “delivering a high-quality labour force through skills, training and migration.” This theme is where this article will focus.
The paper notes the need for a workforce that is adaptable and dynamic. Yet,
“Of the government-funded VET students who completed their qualification in 2020, only 60 per cent had improved their employment status after their training.”
In addition, “42 per cent of technician and trade occupations are currently facing a skills shortage compared to 19 per cent for all assessed occupations.” Completion rates for trades apprentices have also declined, the paper reports. Skilled migration can help address some of these shortfalls, but “the current migration system has also become difficult to administer and difficult for potential migrants to navigate.”
Indeed, “almost a third of businesses reported having difficulty finding suitable staff … and most cited a lack of experience or skills as a major factor.” The issue is how Australia will meet its skill needs in the medium term, especially in major skill shortage occupations such as aged and childcare workers and chefs – all which are VET’s ‘bread and butter’.
The paper argues that “we need to establish an effective skills and education system that better reflects the needs of the economy and is supported by industry investment in training and a responsive migration system.” Hopefully, some of this is in train through the ‘skills reform agenda’ established by the previous federal government, but we need to see how this will play out in practice now with a change of government and through this Summit. At the nub of this is how much of this reflects problems with the VET system and its providers, or is it more an issue related to policy and administrative settings which constrain how effectively providers can operate?
The issues paper suggests several issues for discussion in relation to skills, training and migration. These include:
How can governments and businesses better integrate training with employment pathways?
and
Are the current systems for higher education and VET appropriately tailored to respond to Australia’s needs now and in the future?
Let’s see what the Summit throws up! However, the Summit is not the end; only a beginning. As the issues paper notes:
“Ideas raised at the Summit may also be explored further through the White Paper on Employment (the White Paper), which will map a comprehensive blueprint for Australia’s future labour market.”
So, this is a story we will continue to follow.
Want to hear more? Join Claire Fields as she unpacks the key outcomes from the summit for the VET sector in her VET Chat on 05 October.
In this bite-sized session, Claire will delve into an overview of the Summit’s outcomes, the implications in the short-medium term for the VET Sector, and the longer-term implications.
Register here: VET Chat: Jobs and Skills Summit – What Did it Mean for VET?
