WA's peak business body, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, estimates the state will need an extra 40,000 workers each year during the next 10 years to fulfil demand for jobs.
Western Australia’s peak business body, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, estimates the state will need an extra 40,000 workers each year during the next 10 years to fulfil demand for jobs, more than double the number of skilled workers a government body estimated was needed earlier this year.
In its Human Capital Report to be released this week, the CCI is calling for urgent action to solve the labour gap, including taxation reform, greater innovation in the education sector and increasing the permanent immigration intake, as well as making the temporary visa system more flexible for employers.
In its report, the CCI says almost 200,000 jobs have been created in the WA economy since the current phase of the economic expansion began six years ago.
The strong growth has led to labour shortages across many professions and trades, however.
The CCI says as many as 400,000 extra workers will be required in WA during the next 10 years, and it is the type of demand that can not be met “on the basis of current labour market and population trends”.
CCI chief executive John Langoulant said the skills shortage was “without question” the number one issue affecting WA.
“Without people to fill the jobs we just can not expect to sustain the boom for the long term,” Mr Langoulant told WA Business News.
The CCI has made several recommendations to help solve the problem. It has suggested broadening the list of skills and occupations that qualify for the 457 visa program, increasing permanent immigration by lifting the number of employer-sponsored permanent migration places, and raising the age limit for immigrants from 45 years to 50 years.
The chamber says while the 457 short-stay visa program, which has allowed sectors experiencing growth to employ workers from overseas, has been effective, it could be improved by expanding the type of worker that could be employed.
CCI’s employment demand estimate is 22,200 workers a year higher than an estimate released by the government’s State Training Board in August.
The board estimated that up to 17,800 additional skilled workers were required in WA each year for the next 10 years.
Its report did not take into account unskilled workers.
The board said the skills shortage would remain a feature of the WA labour market over the next 10 years due to the strength of the economy and the ageing workforce.
The CCI said longer-term structural issues, such as the ageing population and declining fertility rates, could also affect the state’s workforce and “potentially put a brake on the state’s growth potential”.
“These longer-term trends require a different response to the short-term labour shortages that currently exist in WA,” the report says.
The CCI is calling for a “human capital strategy” to be developed to help increase the size of the labour force through population increases and enhanced labour force participation, as well as measures to improve the productivity of the current workforce.
