Australia needs a critical lift in labour capacity to keep the economy afloat and to overcome a long list of workforce challenges identified in a recently released Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) whitepaper.
Skills crisis could get worse.
CEDA said the public infrastructure pipeline announced by governments in recent years has been delayed due to a forecast shortage of more than 100,000 workers.
At the same time Australia will need a sustained lift in labour to install around 33 gigawatts of new domestic generation in just over a decade to be on track for net zero by 2050.
“This is the equivalent of almost doubling current generation capacity in New South Wales,” the whitepaper said.
“The government and the tech sector have a shared commitment of 1.2million tech jobs by 2030, necessitating 650,000 new roles over the next eight years.”
The whitepaper blames the mismatching of skills as a big contributor to Australia’s workforce problems.
“The mismatching of skills for migrants arriving between 2013 and 2018 is estimated to have cost $1.25 billion in foregone wages,” the report said.
This mismatch has been made worse by a weak labour market integration of immigrants, who have education rates substantially higher than Australian-born workers.
Licensing presents a particular barrier to suitable employment for migrants whose skills have been developed overseas.
This problem is exacerbated in occupations such as nurses and electricians, where migrants can satisfy skills assessment for Australia’s migration program but still fail to meet licensing requirements. ments.23 Further, by relying primarily on historical pathways to build skills, notably apprenticeships designed around the needs of young male school leavers, licensing can also create barriers to new modes of learning that could build skills among other cohorts, such as older workers and women.
CEDA estimates one in five people employed in Australia work in an occupation subject to registration requirements.
“This proportion varies from a low of 13 per cent in the ACT to a high of 21 per cent in Queensland. Internationally this is not unusual: regulated workers are estimated to account for between 15 and 35 per cent of the workforce across EU countries and in the United States,” the whitepaper said.
“In some areas, occupational licensing coverage continues to increase. For example, the Victorian government is in the process of introducing a new registration and licensing scheme for building tradespeople, beginning with carpentry then extending to over 20 different trades.
“Compared with the United Kingdom, for example, licensing is much more restrictive in Queensland and NSW for building trades such as electricians, plumbers and painters.”
CEDA said Australia could gain $5 billion a year in productivity benefits simply by introducing licensing reforms and removing mobility restrictions across all occupations.
The whitepaper said Automatic Mutual Recognition of Occupational Registrations scheme, which came into effect on 1July2021, has improved the recognition of occupational licensing across Australian states.
“The scheme removes the need for people to apply and pay for an additional registration or licence when working in another state or territory. However, not all occupations are covered,” the paper said.
“Queensland does not yet participate in the scheme, which is of particular concern given the extent of licensing restrictions in that state and its role as the biggest net recipient of interstate migrants.”
https://www.climatecontrolnews.com.au/contracting/ceda-calls-for-lift-in-labour-capacity
