Ballina Information Blog

A survey of Ballina Electorate businesses has found 52 per cent of respondents believe skills shortages are negatively affecting their business, Member for Ballina Don Page said today.

Mr Page said the survey also revealed 43 per cent of business owners have had difficulties recruiting employees for specific positions during the last 12 months.

“Of those businesses, the area of employment in which the majority of difficulties (55 per cent) were experienced was skilled trades, followed by retail (15 per cent),” Mr Page said.

“The skilled trades experiencing the greatest shortage of workers in the Ballina Electorate are hospitality, hairdressing, electrical, auto mechanics, security (locksmiths), carpentry, welding, plumbing, tiling and refrigeration.

“The survey also asked business owners their thoughts on apprenticeships.

“Of the 44 per cent of respondents who have hired an apprentice in the last two years, an overwhelming 67 per cent were not satisfied with the apprenticeship process.

“Problems encountered during the apprenticeship process included difficulty in retaining an apprentice for the duration of the apprenticeship (21%); the apprentice left the business and joined another employer once their training was complete (26%); cost of Workers Compensation premiums (18%); restrictions on the work apprentices can carry out in the initial years of their apprenticeship (24%); and a lack of reliable apprentices (1%).

“Of those businesses who have not employed an apprentice in the last two years, the main reason was a lack of incentives (32%), followed by the costs such as Workers Compensation premiums (28%), no guarantee the apprentice will remain with the business once trained (22%) and the considerable outlay for limited initial return (16%).

“As the NSW Liberal/Nationals Coalition Shadow Minister for Skills Development and Training, I will be using these survey results to assist in the finalisation of the Coalition’s policies to address the skills shortage.

“We have, however, already announced a Coalition policy to pay the cost of workers compensation premiums for apprentices, phased in over the first term in Government.

“Thank you to all businesses owners who completed the survey and returned it to my office.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Ballina, Business, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.