Australian training and immigration program must match-Experts

Australia, 18th October: Several experts believe that if Australia wants to avoid high skills shortage, then it must work towards matching immigration and training programs with the future demands.

Australia’s unemployment rate had touched a high of 5.8 percent in the half of the previous year although it has now come down to 5.1 percent, the same rate as in the year 2005.

And if the Australian government does not work seriously towards increasing training and immigration programs in the nation, then several new upcoming projects are likely to be stalled even further, the insiders in the industry feel.

As per global managing partner of mining and metals for Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, the remuneration packages in Australian firms are witnessing a continuing year-on-year increase of around 25 percent.

Most companies are ready to pay higher remuneration to the right person because they don’t want to lose out millions of dollars, added Hayman.

According to Jim Barrett, who heads the Australian Constructors Association, shortage of skilled workforce is already threatening the residential building as well as the commercial sectors.

Most of the times, people generally tend to focus on lower skill levels but the fact is that those with specialist management skills and high level technical skills are essential for growth of several projects, added Barrett.

And the present shortages of skilled labor force being experienced by the industry will get highlighted in the biannual Contruction Outlook of the association slated to be released in this week.   

The nation is going to experience much higher shortages of skilled workforce especially in the sectors including mining, health care, engineering and education, in the year 2015, stated Robin Shreeve, chief executive of Skills Australia.

Chief executive of Atlas Iron, David Flanagan said there will be a higher need for additional skilled persons in the coming times for several new upcoming projects in the coming five years time.

There already has been an increase of around 5 to 10 percent in the wages in Atlas Iron in the last year.

Barrett admitted that although several initiatives by both the government and the private sector were addressing the current skills shortage, but still, there remains a wide gap between present training programs to plug the gaps in the Australian economy.