With approximately half of all Illawarra based employers reporting not having sufficient staff to run their businesses, it’s critical that at the state election on March 23 all sides focus on  what can be done to address booth our regions and NSW’s current skills gap.

Positively, this week saw the NSW Opposition announce that if elected it would make TAFE courses free across key sectors with workforce shortages. Similarly, the Government has expressed its ongoing commitment to the Smart and Skilled program with subsidies for TAFE courses for both entry level and existing workers in areas of skills shortages. With estimates that there is a national shortfall of 300,000 skilled workers over the next five years in construction alone it’s obvious that we need to be doing more.

We’re in the midst of a record infrastructure construction boom worth $87 billion over the next four years. This will peak in 2022, with major projects like the Albion Park Rail Bypass, Western Sydney Airport and the Berry to Bomaderry Highway upgrade happening being delivered in our region alone.

When the airport is delivered at Badgerys Creek in 2026 it will give life to an ‘aerotropolis’ – an industrial and commercial precinct that will create a further 200,000 jobs in a wide range of sectors including advanced manufacturing, healthcare and research, defence and aerospace and agribusiness. The Illawarra will benefit from this growth with demand for skilled labour drawing more people towards the airport.

Demand for skills goes far beyond construction with healthcare, aged care and electro-technology key areas of growth. Sadly, however, many young jobseekers don’t have the training or skills to secure these opportunities. To make matters worse, many young job seekers have incurred debt completing training that will not assist them in securing a meaningful career, or have been trapped in a school system that measures success by whether or not they secure a university place.

Addressing skill shortages and tackling youth unemployment must be a priority for all sides of politics. The Chamber is calling for additional measures to help address this issue, including a new $100 million dollar youth re-engagement fund to get young unemployed people back into training and into work, and a target of 20,000 school based apprenticeships and traineeships to be delivered over the next four years.

We are also calling for new career advice hubs, to provide contemporary industry careers advice to support students, parents and teachers, identify career opportunities and the training and education pathways to get there. And TAFE must lift its game. Feedback from both employers and workers highlight challenges with enrolments and student assessments at TAFE. As the state’s largest single provider of vocational training, TAFE needs to do better in providing quality training experiences for students and ensuring that employers are treated as partners in the training and assessment process.

In the Chamber’s view, current debates about public or private training delivery are irrelevant to delivering good training services, where they’re needed and when they’re needed. Private RTOs play an essential role in delivering flexible training solutions in places and ways that TAFE can’t.

Apprenticeships are crucial but NSW is lagging behind on school based apprenticeships and traineeships. While in recent times there has been a slight uptick in school based apprenticeships and traineeships, NSW is lagging way behind when compared with other states. In 2017 Queensland had 11,295 students undertaking school-based apprenticeships and traineeships, whereas NSW had 2,495.

There are common misconceptions about apprenticeships that we should all help address. Apprenticeships and traineeships are often considered as second rate options that close doors and are only relevant for people who can’t get in to university.

 Many people don’t appreciate that they offer the ability to ‘earn while you learn’, provide pathways to careers in lucrative industries and are commonly a young person’s best chance of entering employment directly after study.

While we’ve seen some positive commitments in the election campaign thus far, there’s much more that we need to be doing to ensure that we’re skilling our state for the future and that we Keep NSW Number 1.

Adam Zarth is the Executive Director of the Illawarra Business Chamber

READ MORE: 1018 paid staff needed across the Illawarra on election day