MEDIA RELEASE

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ACS Calls for Strategic Labour Market Planning to Solve IT Skills Crisis

Sunday 15 November 1998 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) believes the Federal Government must take decisive and strategic action to address the growing IT skills crisis before the problem seriously impedes Australia's ability to compete internationally.

ACS President, Prins Ralston, said current favourable labour market conditions, as evidenced by last week's unemployment figures, give the Government the opportunity to become more strategic in identifying and targeting specific industries with high growth potential.

"We congratulate the Federal Government on the latest figures, which show unemployment has dropped to an eight year low of 7.7 per cent, but we believe further success will only come through a more targeted approach.

"With an estimated 30,000 unfilled jobs within the IT&T industries, we need specific measures aimed at building the relevant skill sets of young Australians, either through university and TAFE courses or through more short term training schemes funded jointly by Industry and the Government," he said.

Mr Ralston raised concerns about the global nature of the skills crisis, saying Australia was losing skilled workers to highly paid positions overseas and couldn't rely on bringing in foreign skills to fill the gap.

"The explosion in demand for IT skills has created a worldwide shortage. With some strategic planning and decisive action, Australia will not only build a strong base of skilled workers for our local information industries, but further develop our existing role in providing IT skills and training for the opportunities in the Asia Pacific Region," he said.

The ACS believes the Government needs to build on its existing success in reducing unemployment, targeting young Australians for training since they are often better equipped to handle information technology due to its integration in their education.

"Not only will training in IT skills help keep these young people off the unemployment queues, but they will have the opportunity to work in Australia's fastest-growing industry, be well paid to fill this critical need and ensure our nation is equipped to compete in specific niches of the global information economy.

"This is a win-win solution for the Howard Government and one they cannot afford to ignore," Mr Ralston said.

"There are also benefits to be gained from training long term unemployed with basic computer user skills such as word processing, spreadsheets and graphics manipulation to fill the growing need for these capabilities across all industries."

This media release is located on the Web at http://www.acs.org.au/news/skills98.htm

ENDS

Media Enquiries:

Prins Ralston, ACS President, Tel: (0411) 755 069, Email: P_Ralston@ntu.edu.au

Arthur Dyster, ACS CEO, Tel: (02) 9299 3666 or (0419) 610 613, Email: arthurd@acslink.net.au

Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au