National Skills Week to highlight vocational education

By 2023, Australia will need approximately one million more workers (5.36 million) with certificate two, three or four qualifications than it will those with bachelor degrees or higher (4.42 million).

With that in mind National Skills Week will have a vocational education and training emphasis.

The number of people completing a training course has fallen by 43.5% compared to five years ago while the National Centre for Vocational Education Research showed the number of people starting traineeships and apprenticeships fell by 3.7% in 2018.

Research over the past 10 years has consistently highlighted that VET is not perceived as a first choice career pathway for many Australians, and the general community are not aware of the many potential benefits VET can offer its participants. 

Among young people, there has generally been a low preference for the VET but there are skills shortages horticulture, beauty therapists, retail and IT. 

Aviation technicians and airline pilots are not trades but skilled workers. An aviation report recently released by Australian Industry Standards forecast 240,000 new commercial pilots will be required in the next 20 years to meet the growing demand of aviation travel which is forecast to double with the greatest demand being in the Asia Pacific region.  It also cites that the Sydney Western Airport due to open in 2026 will create another 28,000 jobs.

Airbus has announced it requires another 240,000 technicians and maintenance workers globally over the next 15 years to just keep planes in the sky.

Health Care and Social Assistance is the largest and fastest growing industry in Australia and is projected to have the strongest employment growth of any industry over the five years to May 2022, supported by the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Australia’s ageing population.

By the year 2060, Australians aged 65 and over will account for one quarter of the population, one in six Australians aged 75 or more, and the ‘very old’ (over 80 years of age) will also become more numerous.

Health Workforce Australia estimates that there will be a shortage of over 100,000 nurses by 2025 while an additional 10,000 more jobs are needed in childcare.

A shortage in Australia’s cyber security workforce may already be costing the nation more than $400 million in lost revenue and wages, according to the analysis prepared by AustCyber – the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network.

AustCyber today issued the first annual update to its Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan. The initial SCP was released in April 2017. The plan is intended to act as a blueprint to help strengthen the local information security sector.

The updated SCP reveals that today the local infosec sector is already short some 2300 workers and Australia is expected to need up to 17,600 additional cyber security workers by 2026.

National Skills Week this year coincides with the 45th WorldSkills Competition being held in Russia where competitors from over 63 countries and regions compete in 56 skills for the best performers in their chosen vocations. 15 young men and women from across Australia (the Skillaroos) will compete against the best apprentices and trainees in their field.

National Skills Week runs from 26 August to 1 September 2019.