A " Skills " Shortage !

We hear constant gripes that there are no jobs out there and yet the New South Wales Chamber of Commerce tells us that there were 82,000 job advertisements this year compared to just 54,000 last year and that a 2019 Workforce skills survey found that 55.4% of employers can not find the people with the right skills to employ.

One thing that seems to be outstanding is the failure of our education system to produce students who are ready for the job market and it seems that too many of our educators have a fixation on university study.  This is coupled with many parents telling their children that the only way to higher paid jobs is to train at university.   As a result, we are seeing a drop out rate and many disillusioned young people with no job prospects and a big HECS bill hanging over their head.

Some of this is a throw back to an old image of " class ".  The " professional " was seen as a cut above a " working class " job holder and hence those employed in what were termed " the trades " were " blued collar workers " as opposed to " white collar professionals ".   In todays world, the trades are desperately short of workers and those with skills now earn a better living than many professions.

Perhaps one of the problems is the preponderance of women in the teaching profession.  Many kids encounter mainly female teachers throughout their school career and traditionally the trades were a male enclave.   They are unlikely to find teachers from a trade background who can explain the benefits of the apprentice system and the job opportunities offering, and this is where there is a big skills shortage waiting to be filled.

It is usual that career choice occurs during the final years kids are at school and it is vitally important that this mix of university or the trades gets adequate exposure, and that is not happening at present. If the only people dealing with career choice are pushing university then it is inevitable that many who would be better suited temperamentally to the trades will never discover the opportunities for the promising work career they offer.

Sadly, our education system is now skewed in favour of university and this is doing a serious disservice to those better suited with working with their hands as opposed to working with their heads.  We are now seeing many choosing university study that does not have a promising career path or which may be overtaken by the threat of redundancy caused by the constant innovation that is taking place.

Employment is waiting for those who can bring the right skills to the job front.  We need to reform the education system to open up the training opportunities so that the right choice can be made from all the opportunities offering.