Healthy demand for workers

Appeared in: The Sydney Morning Herald
Author: Megan Johnston
Date: Saturday, the 13th of February 2010

Ask recruiters about skills shortages in recent months and you won’t get a straight answer. While many industries fared well over the past year and snapped up top talent, some employees believe the economic slowdown temporarily reduced demand for staff, masking an underlying skills shortage that will soon return.

Recent statistics seem to support this theory, although employers are now finding it easier to recruit skilled labour than during the peak shortage a couple of years ago. Last year, joblessness rose and skills shortages fell sharply but job ads are now reappearing and the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 per cent in December. At the same time, skills shortages among professionals, associate professionals and trades began to rise.

In some industries, such as health, shortages remained steady or worsened, figures from the federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations show.
Of those occupations still suffering last year, engineering, construction, education, social work and health dominated shortfalls in NSW and Victoria. Automotive, mechanical and some electrical trades were also experiencing shortages.

One industry now emerging from last year’s hiatus is IT and computing, the chief executive of IT recruitment company Peoplebank, Peter Acheson, says.

This shortfall will become more pronounced as businesses invest in bigger projects, smart phones gain popularity, banks start major systems upgrades and the National Broadband Network soaks up workers.

“IT has become a very important part of competitive advantage for companies,” Acheson says.

Certain specialisations are in particular demand, including workers skilled in emerging technologies or those who combine IT knowledge with financial, business, management, interpersonal and communication skills.

Acheson says some businesses are already topping up their IT talent pool in advance, or are training non-IT staff to manage future projects. His advice for all businesses, however, is to create strong strategic workforce plans to keep staff up to date with new technologies.

“There are examples of organisations whose IT workforce became out of kilter with the organisation because the technology has changed,” he says.

The chief executive of Engineers Australia, Peter Taylor, says demand may grow in his field as global economies strengthen, particularly in civil, electrical and mechanical.

“It’s pretty encouraging for a young engineer,” he says. “It’s important for someone who has just graduated to gain experience and move towards chartered status, which is a measure of competency.”

In contrast, health industries tend to be countercyclical, a research and policy manager for the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council, Robin Flynn, says. Not only has demand increased from extra government funding but workers who have recently moved into health may return to better-paying industries if the economy picks up. In addition, the ageing population will create huge demand - for up to 180,000 extra employees in the next three years, he says.

“We’re the largest-employing sector and because of that, community services need to grow faster than any other industry in terms of workforce,” Flynn says.

The industry is trying to break down the barrier between university qualified jobs, such as medicine and registered nursing, and vocationally qualified areas, such as aged care and enrolled nursing, Flynn says. The aim is to open up more opportunities for workers and relieve skills shortages.
“We’re going to look at new combinations of workers, in particular when we think of vocational jobs,” he says.

The national group development manager at training company Franklyn Scholar, Nicolas West, says many companies are seeking tailor-made, in-house training to attract better candidates and improve staff retention. Others upgrade the skills of existing staff.

“The traditional ways of recruiting people are not effectively working so we have to start thinking laterally,” he says.