The heart of growth: Building a strong skilled workforce in SA

Major infrastructure projects in South Australia mean the need for a skilled labour workforce has never been greater.

Enrolling for a course at TAFE SA can equip you with the skills to tackle the jobs of tomorrow. Picture: Supplied

Skilled workers have never been more needed in South Australia. There is a call for more educated, trained and skilled people to take up positions in emerging growth sectors, including early years, health and aged care, building and construction, defence and space, IT and cybersecurity, hospitality and tourism, manufacturing and carbon-neutral energy and resources. Major construction projects such as the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the River Torrens to Darlington Project require qualified workers across scores of professions. Further recruits are also needed to ensure the state’s Housing Roadmap can become a reality, as well as delivering some of the largest and most complex defence industry projects ever undertaken
in Australia. It all adds up to the creation of a multi-generational program of work – and the time to start preparing is now.

Meeting defence industry job demands

South Australia’s defence industry workforce will need to grow significantly in the coming years, from around 5500 to more than 11,000 by the 2040s, including 4000-5500 direct jobs to build SSN-AUKUS.

There will be an additional 4000 workers employed for the design and build of the submarine construction yard at Osborne.

Adam Reid says Collins Class, Hunter Class, and SSN-AUKUS will generate steady growth in the demand for engineering and operations skill sets from 2025 out to 2040.

“There will be a significant and enduring need for skills within operations, predominantly in trade and technician roles,” he says.

The SA Defence Industry Workforce and Skills report contains 22 initiatives and supporting measures to meet this demand, spanning education and career progression.

There is also a greater focus on diversity. “Acknowledging that boosting diversity not only opens up new career opportunities for under-represented cohorts, but also allows the defence industry to access a largely untapped resource, all initiatives include increased opportunities for women, First Nations people and other cohorts across all job roles, including leadership,” Reid says.

The heart of growth

The largest investment in skills and training in South Australia’s history will pave the way for a period of massive economic growth in the state.

That’s the opinion of Department of State Development chief executive officer Adam Reid, who says funding from the State and Commonwealth governments – $1.4 billion and $880 million respectively – will ensure a job-ready workforce to tackle a host of major projects.

“South Australia is on the brink of great opportunity, with major commitments and projects in progress or coming soon,” Reid says.

“(These include) multigenerational defence projects – including our commitments under the AUKUS agreement – the Housing Roadmap, the Torrens to Darlington Project, three-year-old preschool and the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital, to name a few.”

Reid, who oversees Skills SA – which provides stewardship of the funded Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector and works to align training investment to the skills needed by industry – says ensuring SA has a suitably skilled workforce is necessary for the state to achieve its economic ambitions.

“Supporting people to gain the skills they need to have successful careers, no matter their background or life circumstances, is crucial for our economy and the community,” he says.

“We are seeing this work starting to take effect: latest figures show we’ve increased VET course enrolments aligned to education, care, construction, defence and manufacturing and clean energy by 3 per cent, compared to 2023.”

Reid says South Australia is not immune from the “extremely” tight global labour market. “As South Australia’s economy grows, demand for workers is increasing and, with unemployment at record lows, many of our key industries are competing for skilled workers,” he says.

Department of State Development chief executive Adam Reid. Picture: Supplied

“Approximately 146,000 new qualified workers will be required to meet the state’s demand for skills over the next five years.

“Importantly, more than half of these qualifications are achievable through the state’s VET system.”

Reid says the investment will bolster all areas of the skills system, from employers and training providers through to students and learners.

“This will help get more people into the key courses we need, ensure our state has nation-leading training providers, and help learners complete their courses,” he says.

To connect more jobseekers with new jobs, the government is supporting 160,000 new subsidised training places over five years, with a $225 million investment allocated for 2024-25 to support up to 32,300 new training places.

These places will strategically target critical sectors like construction, early childhood education and care, defence, health and green technology.

Reid says there is no doubt the construction of the SSN-AUKUS fleet of nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarines – on top of the concurrent commitments to sustainment, maintenance and life-of-type extension of the existing Collins Class fleet and build of the Hunter Class Frigates – will be the leading contributor to the defence industry’s workforce needs. However, the defence industry is not the only growth sector requiring highly skilled workers.

“Thousands more construction workers are required to support the South Australian Government’s Housing Roadmap, which sets a target of approximately 40,000 new homes for South Australia, as well as other major infrastructure projects,” Reid says.

There is strong demand across all of those industries for highly skilled roles, such as engineers.

“I believe the real driver is the need for more people with qualifications in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and particularly engineering,” Reid says.

“We are working to directly address this need through workforce development initiatives such as STEM in schools, our five new technical colleges, and new degree apprenticeship pilot programs, among others.”