If you want work, the west wants you
By Amanda O’Brien
The West Australian government is planning another campaign to poach workers from other states amid skills shortages across the state.
The Barnett government yesterday released a 20-page list of 348 priority occupations, naming everything from carpenters, plumbers and architects to pilots, accountants, nurses, chefs, locksmiths and auditors.
As Western Australia’s unemployment rate fell to just 4 per cent, Training and Workforce Development Minister Peter Collier said the skills shortage went well beyond the mining sector, and attracting thousands of interstate workers to a range of industries was essential as the economy boomed.
The recruitment campaign will be unveiled next month as part of a comprehensive workforce development plan.
“We’ve got an enormous amount of opportunity here for people in the eastern states,” Mr Collier said.
“I want to tell them all this is a great state to get a job.”
Thousands of workers were lured west from interstate in 2006 and 2007 in the last resources boom, when the former Carpenter government pumped more than $1 million into advertising and recruitment, and even targeted interstate events such as AFL grand finals to sell the state.
The priority jobs list showed construction, automotive and engineering trades were among the worst affected, but the shortages were so widespread that people from a vast range of backgrounds were in demand. Vets, midwives, optometrists, social workers, lift mechanics, butchers, bakers and prison officers were among those named.
WA Housing Industry Association executive director John Dastlik said the average age of workers in the residential construction industry was 45 to 50 years and serious and radical changes were needed to encourage more young people to enter trades.
Shorter, more specialised apprenticeships would allow them to tailor their training to a specific job rather than learning things they would not use.
Mr Collier said that idea was being considered.
Article from The Australian, July 9, 2010.
