Another Headwind for Manufacturing

19 Jan 12

Perth based Hofmann Engineering reports it is reliant on 457 visa's to secure the skilled staff it needs to operate.

For sometime the media has been concentrating on the key headswinds that the manufacturing sector currently faces, being the strong Australia dollar making export markets difficult to secure and maintain, weaker domestic demand, Asian competition, lack of local content in Australian Government and private projects, and a lack of a government longer term strategic plan to support the sector.

What has also become a critical industry issue is a lack of skilled labour. Australia's education system is not encouraging students to undertake careers in the trades. One has to beg the question why, when a career in manufacturing can result in a middle class income without the need for years of university education that is required for other, more popular career paths.

Whilst the mining boom has been kind to Hofmann Engineering, the company is concerned that the lure of better-paid work in the mining sector is robbing the manufacturing sector of skilled workers. Hofmann Engineering has trained hundreds of workers and apprentices, but given the jobs on offer in the mining sector it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain staff.

The mining sector rather than investing in staff training and development itself, is robbing other sectors of the skilled workers that they need. Whilst the case in question is Western Australian based, where the mining boom is highly prevelant, the lack of skilled manufacturing workers is an issue Australia wide, and should not be ignored by Government policy makers, and education department authorities.