New careers sought for COVID jobs casualties in national skills plan
Out-of-work women and young people are being told to consider a career change amid a new national push to re-skill and refunnel jobseekers into in-demand industries.
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IT MAY be time for a career change for out-of-work Queenslanders, amid a national push to funnel hoards of unemployed workers into newly in-demand jobs post-COVID-19.
The National Skills Commission, which was created last year to address Australia’s skills crisis, is now turning its attention to finding work for potentially hundreds of thousands of people whose jobs won’t bounce back in a post-COVID-19 world.
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The message is particularly directed at young people and women, who have borne the brunt of job losses.
With long-term unemployment set to skyrocket thanks to the long-lasting impacts of COVID-19 shutdowns, a new project, dubbed JEDI, will identify skills from a person’s previous career and apply them to another where there are jobs going.
For example, a beauty therapist would make a good youth worker, according to JEDI, because of their impeccable client management and record keeping and they could easily train with a diploma or certificate in youth work.
Having become a youth worker, a range of new jobs then open up through further upskilling, including parole or probation officer, drug and alcohol counsellor or disability services officer.
A waiter could find a to a pharmacy sales assistant or into ICT sales.
The Reserve Bank has predicted the official unemployment rate to be at 10 per cent in the June quarter, and still be as high as 8.5 per cent in a year’s time.
Queensland’s worst hit areas include Cairns, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, where tourism will struggle for some time without international visitors.
Incredibly, despite the astronomical jobless rate, 30 per cent of recruiting employers have told the NSC they are currently having trouble filling jobs because of a lack of applicants, experience, job location and lack of technical skills.
The most commonly mentioned occupations recruiting since April were retail sales assistants, truck drivers, child carers, receptionists, managers and registered nurses.
Interim National Skills Commissioner Adam Boyton said work needed to be done so skills shortages didn’t act as a handbrake to Australia’s recovery.
Meanwhile, 18,500 Queenslanders have already signed up for free training enrolments being offered by the Queensland Government to help them find work in new fields.