Business owners and organisations at the top end of the Coast have implored Emma McBride MP and Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers to help address the skills shortage they are facing.
Joanne Brearley from Jigsaw Autism Services at Tuggerah; Sharryn Brownlee joint owner of Ace Electrical Services; Paula Martin, Senior Director Regions and Visitor Economy for Business NSW; Ian from Herbies Spices and Director of Central Coast Industry Connect and Katrina Woolcott, Business Manager at Business Wyong gathered at a lunch organised by McBride where they explored the struggles businesses currently face.
Among those issues was the ongoing story that there is mismatch between skills and jobs availability.
The issue of skills shortages on the Coast does not go away.
In 2019, Paula Martin said that Business NSW had seen a big increase in job vacancies for businesses experiencing skill shortages – 82,000 in 2019, compared to 54,000 in 2017.
McBride said that Labor’s plan for free TAFE will help address the skills crisis by encouraging those on the Coast to take up a trade or training course in industries that already have gaps.
“This will give job seekers the chance to find more secure work and it will help fill a gap in the workforce for small business,” she said.
The group also drew attention to other factors that hinder businesses including rising rent prices, and that they are forced to spend too much time on red tape.
McBride said the roundtable was very productive.
“It was great to hear directly from small business owners in our community,” she added.
Nicola Riches