Deloitte Access Economics Skill shortages in the resources sector

Energy Skills Queensland - Workforce & Competency Development Plan

Report name:	Workforce Planning Report Part C – Workforce & Competency Development Strategy Plan Prepared for the Queensland Coal Seam Gas / Liquefied Natural Gas Industry
Date:	September 2009
Author:	Energy Skills Queensland
Publisher/Industry/Government affiliation:	Energy Skills Queensland
Subcontractor involved:	-
Primary/Secondary research	Primary
Key sectors	Minerals and energy industry with a focus on Queensland

The CSG/LNG Workforce & Competency Development Plan will assist each future project outline the measures taken to provide employment and training opportunities to the local community for inclusion in its Environmental Impact Study. The strategies presented in the Plan seek to address the common critical workforce issues.

The six critical workforce issues are shown in the following table.

Table 1.6.1: Critical workforce issues faced by CSG/LNG Industry in QLD

	Occupational Grouping
Critical Workforce Issues	Professional	Technical	Non Technical/ Unskilled
Cannot fill positions – critical shortfall in labour supply	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cannot fill positions – critical shortfall in skills supply	Yes	Yes	Yes
Potential for the workforce to not be competent in meeting industry requirement without relevant and demand driven structure learning	Yes	Yes
Current inadequate level of capacity and capability of registered training organisations to respond to rapid accelerated growth in workforce demand (skills and competency)	Yes	Yes
‘Off the Shelf’ generic competency based training packages – misalignment with industry needs		Yes
Replacement Demand – loss of skills, experience and knowledge to the industry plus increasing impact of the ageing demographic	Yes	Yes

The industry has advocated for a multi-faceted, systems approach to building the capacity, capability and long-term sustainability of the industry-wide workforce. The paper proposes the following four levels of workforce development to address the critical workforce issues:

• 
  Level 1- Workforce, Skill Attraction and Retention
  
• 
  Level 2-Skill Development
  
• 
  Level 3-Skilling Systems
  
• 
  Level 4- Skills and Competence Sustainability.
  

The paper then details terms of reference for an industry taskforce to tackle the workforce development issues.

7. Grad (article in Engineering and Mining Journal)

Report name:	Australian Mining Industry's Looming Labour Shortage
Date:	July/August 2010
Author:	Paul Grad
Publisher/Industry/Government affiliation:	Engineering and Mining Journal
Subcontractor involved:	-
Primary/Secondary research	Primary
Key sectors	Mining

Grad provides an overview of the 'looming' skills shortage predicted by the resources industry. The industry currently employs around 1.6 per cent of the total workforce and the Minerals Council of Australia predicts an additional 86,000 workers will be required over the next 10 years.

Companies, such as Rio Tinto, are seeking alternative options and incentives to source employees. These include FIFO rotation rosters and increased parental leave.

One of the key issues highlighted includes the long lead time for training and hence there is a greater call for increased overseas migration of skilled employees to fill the predicted gap.

Key roles highlighted by the Mining Industry Skills Centre that are likely to experience shortages are:

• 
  Geoscientists
  
• 
  Mine surveyors
  
• 
  Fitter mechanics
  
• 
  Electro-technical tradespeople.
  

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) identifies shortages in:

• 
  Mechanical fitters (heavy diesel, mechanical technicians, shovel fitters, drill fitters and schedulers)
  
• 
  Electricians (particularly those with high-voltage experience)
  
• 
  Automotive electricians (heavy vehicles)
  
• 
  Boilermakers
  
• 
  Explosives operators
  
• 
  Instrumentation technicians
  
• 
  Supervisory personnel with relevant trade experience.
  

Initiatives recommended by Grad to address the shortage include:

• 
  Providing apprenticeships to existing and mature-age workers with relevant trade skills
  
• 
  and experience .
  
• 
  Encouraging school students to undertake technical apprenticeships
  
• 
  Using ‘bonded scholarships’ to provide additional incentives during training but which require them to remain in the industry after completion
  
• 
  Accelerating apprenticeship training
  
• 
  Employing workers from overseas
  
• 
  Recruiting from alternative sectors, such as manufacturing
  
• 
  Encouraging women to work within the sector.
  

8.