scoping our future - ANET - Australian National Engineering Taskforce

Scoping Our Future Addressing Australia’s Engineering Skills Shortage | 9Defining a SkillsShortage?Skills shortages occur when thesupply of skills in a particularprofession or area is outstrippedby demand from industry.Skills shortages typically affect segmentsof industry relying on specialist orexperienced workers. Skills shortageshave a range of effects, constrainingproductivity and business growth,increasing costs to business, andputting new strains on the structure ofoccupations and professions.In 2001, the National Skills InitiativeWorking Group reported that skillsshortages in engineering trades andprofessions were a priority national skillsproblem. 12 A decade later, and littlehas changed for the profession. Thereis a well-recognised skills shortagein engineering, affecting both genericengineering skills and also concentratedin areas of specialisation. The shortagesaffect industry unevenly, particularly inareas like rail engineering, where signalengineers are an ageing specialistworkforce in crucially short supply.The National Centre for VocationalEducation has developed a typologyof skills shortages, mapping thedifferent levels and types of skillsshortage. Skills shortages can becharacterised as either:Level 1 shortage - few workers havethe essential technical skills who arenot already using them and there is along training time to develop the skills;Level 2 shortage—there are a fewpeople who have the essential skillswho are not already using thembut there is a short training time todevelop the skills;Skills mismatch—there are sufficientpeople who have the essentialtechnical skills who are not alreadyusing them, but they are not willingto apply for vacancies under currentconditions; andQuality gap—there are sufficientpeople who have the essentialtechnical skills who are not alreadyusing them, who are willing to applyfor vacancies, but they lack somequalities that employers consider areimportant. 13The National Resources SectorEmployment taskforce has suggestedthat in-demand engineering professionsin the natural resources sector are likelyto be the subject of a Level 1 Shortage. 14This kind of shortage occurs when thereare few workers with essential skills anda relatively long lead-time to developthese skills. Other areas of industry arelikely to experience different types of skillsshortage, with a range of industry-specificsolutions required to address the overallshortfall in engineering skills. Given thetype and scope of the skills shortage inthe booming resources sector, it is likelythat industries employing engineers withtransferable skills will experience someknock-on effect from the resources sector.The shortage of engineers across theeconomy may become more acute andfocussed in areas where vital communityinfrastructure is built and maintained.12 DEST (2002) Nature and Causes OfSkill Shortages Reflections: From TheCommonwealth National Industry Skills InitiativeWorking Groups, DEST, Canberra.13 Richardson S (2007) What is a Skills Shortage?National Centre for Vocational Education andTraining, National Indstitute of Labour Statistics,Adelaide.14 NRSET (2010) Resourcing the Future Discussionpaper, Australian Government, March, p17.