Skills shortage in the electrical and associated industries and employers’ perceptions of apprentice training as a contributing factor

When the number of new entrants is not sufficient to offset the level of exits of a given skill, given the labour market needs for that skill, a skill shortage will develop. There is evidence of this in a number of trades within Australia at the present time, including the electrical trades as there is also for a number of other countries such as Canada, the United States and the UK where shortages of electrical tradespersons have recently been reported. The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse the perceptions of employers in the industry about this phenomenon. First the paper explores employer and labour hire perceptions of skills shortages in the electrical and electronics industries. Secondly, it considers aspects of apprentice engagement, including the firms undertaking training, the recruitment process, impediments to recruitment and the effect of group training on the outcomes.

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