Large companies struggling to recruit: survey

Large employers are finding it increasingly tough to find suitable workers in the tight labour market, and in some cases are being forced to retrain staff, a survey has found.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research found that over 80 per cent of large employers -- those employing more than 100 people -- reported having some or a lot of difficulty recruiting skilled employees in the past 12 months.

This compares with 68 per cent of large employers reporting they had some or a lot of difficulty in recruiting staff in 2005.

NCVER's Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET System set out to find the various ways employers met their skill needs.

These included hiring skilled employees who already had the desired skills, employing apprentices/trainees or extra training for existing staff.

It found that more than half (54 per cent) of Australian employers used the national vocational education and training (VET) system in the last year, down slightly from 57 per cent in 2005.

Of all employers; 33 per cent have jobs that require specific skills or vocational qualifications due to legislative, regulatory or licensing requirements; 29 per cent employ apprentices or trainees; and 22 per cent use nationally recognised training as a means of skilling staff because of legislative, regulatory or licensing requirements, providing specific skills required for the job or to maintain professional or industry standards.

Satisfaction with the quality of training at TAFE and other training providers remains high with 88 per cent of employers satisfied with nationally recognised training from private training providers and 85 per cent of employers satisfied with nationally recognised training provided by TAFE as a way of meeting skill needs.