The scramble for skilled workers in the state has intensified as the economy improves and training falls short of demand.
The scramble for skilled workers in the state has intensified as the economy improves and training falls short of demand.
Western Australia is headed for a shortfall of 76,000 workers by 2015, a new forecast shows, prompting renewed claims not enough is being done to train and recruit local workers.
Projections from Monash University’s Centre of Policy Studies show an additional 170,000 jobs will be created over the next three years.
While about 95,000 of these roles are expected to be filled through population growth, businesses will struggle to find workers for the balance.
Despite the increasing demand, latest figures show training of workers in the state is falling short of government targets as more people drop out or are withdrawn from training programs.
In 2010, Training Minister Peter Collier aimed to increase the number of trainees or apprentices to 47,100 by 2012 to combat the projected labour shortage.
But fresh data from the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research show the number of apprentices or trainees was 38,800 at the end of September 2011.
That’s an increase of only 2500 since the number of people in training stagnated in 2008-09 during the GFC.
The number beginning apprenticeships or traineeships has continued to increase since the fall in 2008-09. The NCVER figures show that in the year to September 2011, 27,500 people started training.
But despite the increase, there has been a record number either dropping out of their study or having training cancelled.
Cancellations and withdrawals from training programs were lowest in the year to September 2009 when 9,800 stopped training.
That has increased by 23 per cent over the past three years to a record 12,100 cancellations or withdrawals in the year to September 2011.
The Barnett government has set aside $33.4 million in this year’s budget to create 12,000 more training places.
But shadow minister for training and workforce development Ljiljanna Ravlich said it was clear not enough was being done to train and support local workers.
“Fundamentally, what is happening is that the minister has set clear targets and is not meeting them for a number of reasons,” Ms Ravlich said.
“Either he is not investing in the training or, alternatively, employers are reluctant to take on apprentices and consequently they are not getting the opportunity to be employed – and if they are not employed they can’t train.”
Mr Collier has called on industry to contribute more strongly to attracting and retaining workers.
“That could take the form of a greater focus on flexible working arrangements, reducing the cost of churn and investing in apprentices and trainees,” Mr Collier said.
Monash University’s prediction of a shortfall in workers tallies with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA’s view that the state could face a gap in supply and demand of workers of about 200,00 by 2020.
The chamber’s chief economist, John Nicolaou, said businesses were now more open to taking on apprentices and trainees, but the root of the problem was a limited pool of already skilled workers based locally.
“I think you’ll find that most (employers) prefer to recruit locally because it’s cheaper,” Mr Nicolaou said. “Recruiting from overseas is expensive but the take up of (migrants) signals that there are challenges in sourcing the levels required.”
WA has been included in the federal government’s regional sponsored migration scheme, which aims to provide more flexibility with visas. But some commentators still see the central government’s migration policy as too difficult and complex.
It is understood Mr Collier has been involved in discussions to bring workers direct to WA from the UK, bypassing the federal scheme.
The shortfall in skilled workers re-emerged in 2010, according to official figures, with employers only able to fill about half the new jobs created in 2010-11.
The main reason was a lack of suitably qualified applicants; for every vacant role advertised in 2010-11 there was an average of only 1.3 suitably qualified applicants – levels close to that seen during the last skilled labour shortage in 2007.
Mr Nicolaou said businesses needed to do more to become attractive employers.
WA already has one of the highest average annual wage rates in the country at $79,175, up 8 per cent for the year to December. Demand for workers in the mining sector had continued to grow, with employers now offering an average wage of $114,000 a year.
But Mr Nicolaou said “it’s not just about money” and the high wages made it difficult for small and medium enterprises to do business.
Instead, businesses should be taking advantage of flexible working hours to attract staff and employing workers who are traditionally overlooked; such as older, disabled, indigenous and female workers.
“They are areas that if you did increase by just a few percentage points it would go a long way to relieving the problem,” he said.
“It’s easier to look at the challenges we face because we only have to look back to 2005-08 when unemployment fell sharply to its lowest point of 2.1 per cent (in WA).
“At that level of unemployment, when businesses had problems being able to support the labour that they needed - it’s a challenge that we don’t really want to see repeated.”
