Lezly D’Limi – Smart Company

The budget won’t fix Australia’s skills shortage. We need to get more creative.

Across Australia, businesses are facing a skills crisis. Unemployment is at 4% and, according to the federal government’s projections, it will drop as low as 3.75% this year. So why were there no creative ideas to really address the personnel shortage we face?

The budget is, for the most part, a cut-and-paste from previous budgets, although there are apprenticeship incentives, some cost offsets for small businesses to support training, migrant programs and so on.

Much is being said about the increased numbers for skilled migrants — 109,000 for 2022-23 — but in reality it just brings us back to pre-pandemic levels. And while it’s great that businesses can bring in more talent from overseas, there are no incentives to help businesses get people here….

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/budget-2022/budget-australias-skills-shortage/