‘Jobs and Skills Australia’: New legislation to address skills shortages

The Federal Australian Parliament has approved legislation to create Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA). ITECA got behind paving the way for workforce skills and training issues to be recognised and addressed.

Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) CEO, Troy Williams, stated: “ITECA welcomes the opportunity to work with Jobs and Skills Australia on identifying current and emerging labour market and workforce skills and training issues. We must address these as the nation faces economic headwinds.”

Mr Williams continued: “Our work with the Senate crossbench and Opposition was important. It allowed the passage of legislative amendments that created a framework in which Directives issued by the Minister concerning the activities of JSA would be tabled in the Parliament.”

JSA will reportedly emerge within a fortnight from the 1 November. ITECA believes JSA will improve workplace productivity by addressing skills shortages through training, leading to wage increases.

“ITECA’s focus now turns to our work with the Australian government on establishing the new agency. This includes determining the full remit of JSA, which will be set out in the second tranche of JSA legislation to be presented to the Parliament in the first half of 2023,” said Mr Williams.

The organisation’s goal goal is to utilise the tertiary education sector to address workforce skills shortages.

Mr Williams added: “Although the focus is definitely on the significant contribution that the independent skills training sector will make, our higher education members will also support the task of workforce upskilling and reskilling.”

“JSA is critical to the work of independent providers that support more than 87 per cent of the 4.3 million students in skills training and 10 per cent of the 1.6 million students in a higher education awards program.”

This is welcome news after the 2022 Skills Priority List Key Findings Report revealed what occupations are short on labour.

The HR Leader recently covered the report’s release, outlining the reports summary which said: “The past year has shown a significant tightening in the Australian labour market, and the findings of the 2022 SPL reflect this, with a large proportion of diverse occupations in shortage. The ongoing effects of COVID-19, along with the changing economic landscape have influenced a range of challenges in many occupations, including health professionals and teachers, while ongoing issues in the labour market remain, such as persistent shortages of technicians and trades workers.”

James McIlvena, LHH’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, commented on the 2022 Skills Priority List Key Findings Report: “Of note to me in reviewing the report is that despite the tightening labour market and increased recruitment difficulty, that employer responses further underlined the importance of investing in upskilling and reskilling to enable the mobility and retention of existing talent to meet future needs of in-demand skills.”