With National Skills Week just around the corner (22 to 28 August) it is critical that school leavers, job seekers, parents and career changers are informed of what the jobs of the future are and what are the most critical skills shortages and job needs are in Australia.
The chairman of National Skills Week, Brian Wexham said in a statement noted that there was a shortage of skilled construction workers that was hampering delivery of many projects in the country, particularly Victoria and New South Wales as the most populous states and where the state governments were engaged in major road, rail and other projects.
He said that the Arcadis Construction Costs Index Report 2022 reported that construction job vacancies had risen by 80percent since late 2019 and it forecast that by next year there would be over 100,000 unfilled roles in the sector.
“More serious still, Arcadis also forecast that this will be almost 50 percent greater than the number of people who are expected to be qualified to fulfil the roles,” Mr Wexham said.
He said a key objective of National Skills Week was to identify and highlight industries with the most in-demand jobs, as well as sectors forecasts to see where the biggest growth will take place in coming years so that Australians gain the training and education they needed to secure jobs and maintain long-term employment.
“This will ensure our young people, yet to start to careers, can gain training and skills in education which is going to secure them a job at the end of that training,” Mr Wexham said. “Further it will assist in funnelling Australia’s labour market into the training opportunities which are most likely going to lead to their employment.
This year’s National Skills Week will be centred around the theme of ‘A Universe of Skills’ encouraging people to go beyond their imagination to discover careers, pathways and opportunities in skills and Vocational Education that they may not know about, thought about or even imagined.