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Creation Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 GMT

Skills crisis has been exacerbated by floods

THE floods that have caused widespread damage across Queensland, NSW and Victoria will add to the increasing skills shortage issue, as labour resources are deployed to rebuild destroyed infrastructure.
The latest Clarius Skills Index -- a measure of the supply and demand of skilled labour in Australia -- showed skills shortages in construction, engineering and building professionals and trades occupations continued through to the end of last year, despite an increase in supply over the last three months.

Phil Desmet, executive general manager of Clarius's engineering and building services division, SouthTech, said despite a slight easing in the index, skill shortages were continuing to emerge in a number of industry sectors, which would be further heightened as a result of flood recovery demands.

He said this would result in a delay in existing projects, a rise in salaries and a migration of skills from other states.

"There are several people in the building industry that are packing up their families and heading to Brisbane, as they have five years of work ahead of them there and they can pick their projects and price them accordingly," he said.

The December quarter Clarius Skills Index, compiled prior to the floods, reported an estimated shortfall of about 4900 construction tradespeople, 600 building and engineering professionals and 100 building and engineering associated professionals.

"There is still uncertainty around the demand needed following the natural disasters," Mr Desmet said. "Some previous projects have been put on hold to rebuild Queensland because the skills shortage means they need to take the talent out of those projects and direct it on to the rebuilding stage."

Mr Desmet said he expected the biggest areas of demand would be for electrical engineers, predominantly relating to power transmission and distribution and rail, while design skills also would be sought after for developments related to transport, such as rebuilding of highways and roads.

The skills shortage issue, prior to the January floods, had seen wages increase in the sectors' desperate for workers, particularly in the resources industry.

Sarah-Jane Tasker, 'The Australian', 8 February 2011