This report examines the extent to which industrial relations, training and immigration policies are meeting workforce needs in the vocational trades. The report is based on a three-year Australian Research Council-funded project including an analysis of academic studies, statistical data and interviews with 60 industry stakeholders. The findings are developed from a detailed analysis of two industries reliant on vocational trades skills: hospitality and construction. The report finds that current industrial relations, training and immigration policy arrangements need reform. These... [+] Show more
This report examines the extent to which industrial relations, training and immigration policies are meeting workforce needs in the vocational trades. The report is based on a three-year Australian Research Council-funded project including an analysis of academic studies, statistical data and interviews with 60 industry stakeholders. The findings are developed from a detailed analysis of two industries reliant on vocational trades skills: hospitality and construction.
The report finds that current industrial relations, training and immigration policy arrangements need reform. These arrangements have been designed to satisfy the immediate demands of individual employers but are less equipped to meet longer-term workforce needs. Problems with job quality and insecure work have been barriers to workforce attraction, retention and development. Concerns over poaching and the quality of skills production have discouraged employers from investing in vocational training. Unscrupulous employers have been able to gain an unfair advantage by mistreating temporary migrant workers rather than investing in training and improving job quality.
The recommendations are designed to generate ideas to allow employers, unions, and government to address workforce needs more sustainably. The recommendations include various measures to improve the ability of industrial relations, vocational training and immigration policies to address future workforce needs. Coordination of industrial relations, vocational training and immigration policies also needs to be strengthened to ensure they function together more coherently to address workforce needs. The report also recommends the creation of Sector Skills Agreements collectively negotiated between the relevant employer associations and trade unions to strengthen industry coordination over industrial relations, vocational training and immigration arrangements.
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