Search results

This report provides an example of the benefits of the ongoing partnership between the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and Group Training Australia (GTA), and the Commonwealth Government consulting with industry to address skill and labour shortages in the Australian workforce. It is the outcome of a study that focused on adult workers and workers returning from injury. The study was based on an analysis of relevant statistics, a literature review and case studies. Major findings of the study are: demographic change and a higher participation in higher education have resulted in a significant drop in the numbers of young people seeking apprenticeships; adult workers returning to the workforce, looking for occupational change or returning from injury, are potential sources from which apprentices can be recruited as a means of addressing current and anticipated skill shortages; group training organisations (GTOs) are well placed to increase the uptake of apprenticeships by adult and mature age workers returning from injury; workers returning from injury to take up apprenticeships face social difficulties and Group Training (GT) is well placed to address some of these; current wage rates constituted a disincentive for the employment of adult and mature age apprentices; and accelerated progression in tandem with recognition of prior learning (RPL) can be a means of reducing the adult/apprentice wage differential.