82% Want More Industry Training

82% Want More Industry Training

6 September 2005

“82% of chief executives and company chairs want an increase in Industry Training”, said Darel Hall Executive Director of the Industry Training Federation.

Darel Hall was reacting to the Herald/ Business New Zealand ‘Mood of the Boardroom’ survey of New Zealand chief executives and company chairs, published today.

“Not only do business leaders know the problem, they know the solution. Skills shortage is their biggest reported problem; Industry Training is clearly a key solution.

“Funding restrictions mean that Industry Training Organisations can not keep up with demand for Industry Training.

The Herald ranking of skill shortages as the biggest problem for business mirrors the recent large Business New Zealand survey of members which also showed skill shortages to be the biggest problem with little variation by size of business and region.

The findings also concur with: The National Bank Small Business Monitor found that for the sixth consecutive quarter, Small to Medium Enterprises cited difficulty finding appropriately skilled staff as their biggest concern; The NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion for June difficulty finding skilled and unskilled labour remains a major constraint on growth - a net 45% of firms report difficulty finding skilled labour; The Department of Labour released a set of reports in April 2005 which investigated the skills situation in 16 trade occupations and found ‘genuine skill shortages’ in all but one of them.

“Fundamental issues remain to be resolved for Industry Training post-election by whatever combination of parties becomes the government. The key one is to sort out the interaction of the funding systems, which is important for the whole tertiary sector.

“The recent survey results underscore the importance of Industry Training Organisations to manage skill shortages and further increases our confidence to debate the detailed issues that remain to be resolved following the election”, said Darel Hall.

ENDS

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