Beyond the resources boom

Recognising the important role that the vocational education and training (VET) sector has in skilling the Western Australian workforce for the economy, the State Training Board commissioned this project to inform planning for the VET sector beyond the current economic boom. Using economic modelling, a range of economic and labour forecasts for Western Australia to 2016 were provided based on different outlooks for the resources industry. The modelling has found that the Western Australian economy is unlikely to experience a boom-bust scenario in the short to medium term. It is more likely to experience a gradual softening from the current strong growth in demand for its commodities and products suggesting that industry will continue to face skills shortages, particularly in those sectors unable to pay higher wages to attract and retain workers. This project report consists of three main parts: Part one provides a range of economic and labour forecasts for Western Australia; Part two provides an overview of the current training system, identifies capacity for change in the current VET system and the extent to which emerging industries supported by Government policy and funding may be affected by the modelling results; Part three summarises the main conclusions and recommendations for a VET response to the longer term training needs of the State. Conclusions include: (1) the current focus on apprenticeships and traineeships in the mining and construction industries is warranted; (2) focus on community and service occupations should not be neglected; (3) strategies engaging students in training need to be developed to ensure skill levels in the workforce are maintained to avoid a skills shortage down the track; (4) strategies need to be developed to encourage non-traditional cohorts to take up VET training; (5) labour force planning for emerging industries needs to be considered separately from the results of the model and in line with direct skills and occupations required; (6) strategies need to be considered to ensure the training system caters for those people in the community who miss out on the postive effects of a strong business cycle. The main recommendation arising from the project is for a white paper be developed incorporating these issues and to look more broadly at developing and coordinating a response by the Department of Education and Training to training in the context of the current skills shortages. Show less