A landmark study released today has revealed South Australia is headed towards a critical shortage of 46,000 workers in key industries by 2035.
The Global Adelaide “Future Workforce Needs for South Australia” report found that the current workforce shortage in SA is 23,000 and on the current trend this shortage will reach 36,000 in five years and 46,000 in 10 years.
Leader of the Opposition, Vincent Tarzia spoke at the launch and said the workforce shortage will curb our ability to build more homes, provide adequate aged care services and grow our economy.
“Labor has promised to solve the housing crisis by building more homes, but its failure on training has left the workforce dangerously short of people to build them,” Mr Tarzia said.
“This workforce shortage will also impact our ability to address key infrastructure issues, and I'm concerned it is our regional areas, in particular, that will suffer.
“I welcome Global Adelaide’s initiative to sustainably build our population to address a number of these issues, and this must be done in tandem with policies that support on the job training.
“We need real incentives for employers to take on apprentices and trainees, which is why a Liberal Government would provide payroll tax relief for those taking on this training workforce.”
The Liberal Opposition has a seven-point plan for Boosting South Australian Apprenticeships, which includes:
- Three-year apprenticeships, where appropriate.
- Boosting group training.
- Guaranteed funding for construction training.
- Mentors for apprentices and their supervisors.
- Payroll tax exemptions for trainees and apprentices.
- Lifting the status of apprenticeships - bringing Worldskills to Adelaide.
- Better career counselling and VET programs in all our schools.
