Australians ‘must have first crack at filling labour gaps’, says Stuart Robert

Australians must be given the ‘first crack’ at plugging labour gaps created by the pandemic, says federal Employment Minister Stuart Robert.

Employment Minister Stuart Robert. Picture: Evan Morgan

Australians must be given the “first crack” at plugging labour gaps created by the pandemic, says federal Employment Minister Stuart Robert, as a new forecast suggests more than 90 per cent of jobs in the next five years will require post-school qualifi­cations, underlining the need for workers to upskill.

As Australia welcomes a few hundred foreign students back to the country and ahead of the ­restart of skilled migration from December 15, Mr Robert – in a speech to the Business Council of Australia on Tuesday – will say the economy is roaring back” from the Delta disruptions, but “the workforce story is one that will play out over the years and decades to come”.

“While we have reason to be positive, we need to be mindful that we are also tackling uneven growth,” Mr Robert will say.

“We have a clear divide between the supply and demand in ­regional versus metro parts of this country, and we have a mismatch between the skills and qualifications required for advertised jobs in certain areas.”

As businesses complain of difficulty securing the right staff to take advantage of a rapid ­rebound, and the number of ­vacancies in November soared to 45 per cent above pre-Covid ­levels, Mr Robert will announce a $32.5m commitment over the next four years to “pilot a systemic approach to ­deliver microcredentials in the university sector”.

Mr Robert will highlight a targeted migration program as one of five “principles” that will guide government policy to address workforce challenges, but will say “if there are gaps to fill, we want Australians to have the first crack”.

He will reveal the number of trade apprentices continued to climb from a record 217,000 in July to more than 220,000 in ­September, with the total number of trainees and apprentices now up 30 per cent on pre-Covid ­levels.

Mr Robert’s speech comes as Anthony Albanese pledged $1.2bn to fund more university and TAFE places if he wins government.

A new report by the National Skills Commission details how employment in STEM occupations (science, technology, engineering and maths) is forecast to grow by 13 per cent over five years, far above the ­average of all occupations at 8 per cent.

Over the 20 years to February 2020, employment in STEM ­occupations grew by 85 per cent, or more than twice the rate of non-STEM occupations, which grew by 40 per cent, the report shows.

“From a skills perspective, ­occupations in high demand are more likely to be specialised and require higher-level skills and ­formal qualifications,” the commission’s report states.

“These include occupations such as registered nurse, software and application programmers, and advertising and sales ­managers.”

The commission’s report states that the most in-demand skills over the coming years will be in the “four Cs”: care for an ageing population, computing, cognitive abilities – as automation increasingly replaces routine work – and communication skills.