What Happened at the Jobs and Skills Summit and QLD Workforce Strategy?
This month a timely spotlight was on Australia’s ongoing skilled labour crisis with the Federal and Queensland Governments both committing to short and long term strategies to help businesses and workforces match people with jobs and fill the skills gap via the national Jobs and Skills Summit and the Queensland Workforce Strategy.
Here’s what happened and what it means for Queensland businesses.
The National Jobs and Skills Summit
The Jobs and Skills Summit brought Australians together to work constructively on the challenges and opportunities facing the Australian labour market and economy.
CCIQ was represented through the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) at the two-day summit. Our focus was on a commitment to Queensland businesses on how they would be supported to attract and retain skilled staff to maximise their day-to-day productivity and long-term growth.
This especially included transformational solutions to increasing labour costs, skills shortages, and support for re-training.
What it means for Queensland businesses: There were 36 outcomes from the summit, which are available in detail from Federal Treasury.
But the most relevant to Queensland businesses included:
465,000 additional fee-free TAFE places
Increase in permanent Migration Program planning level to 195,000 in 2022-23 to help ease widespread, critical skills shortages
$36.1 million in additional funding to accelerate visa processing and resolve the visa backlog
‘Digital Apprenticeships’ that will support workers to earn while they learn in entry level tech roles
There was also a focus on helping pensioners into jobs as well as on gender equality in the workplace.
Read more on the Jobs and Skills Summit via CCIQ’s media release and also hear from CEO Heidi Cooper about why workforce support was especially important as Queensland businesses prepare for the 2032 Olympics via The Courier Mail.
What happened at the Queensland Workforce Strategy Roundtable
CEO Heidi Cooper was appointed to join other industry and community leaders to help steer the roll-out of the state government’s new Queensland Workforce Strategy.
The Queensland Workforce StrategyRoundtable, that includes CCIQ, has been established to inform the implementation of the 10-year plan, which has been designed to build a strong, skilled and diverse workforce ready to fill the jobs of today and tomorrow.
What it means for Queensland businesses: CCIQ’s seat at the roundtable will ensure the government hears the state’s business voice and has clear employer representation on workforce issues.
CCIQ will sit at the table with community, employer, training and representative groups to ensure a collaborative approach.
We’ll especially focus on strategies that will help position Queensland businesses to capture the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for growth, diversification and sustainability that will come from events like the 2032 Olympics.
Read more via CCIQ’s media release.