A shortage of skills

Press, 3 December 1979, Page 20

A shortage of skills

Although Christchurch has a marked unemployment problem there is a shortage of engineering tradesmen. This is. to some extent, a picture of what is happening elsewhere in New Zealand People with some muchwanted skills are scarce. The point about the shortage of skilled staff was made by Mr C. W. White, president of the Canterbury Employers' Association, to the annual meeting of the association. Christchurch engineering well illustrates his argument. It is a large, and in some factories, a highly sophisticated industry that has demonstrated an ability to be competitive internationally. If there were more skilled tradesmen around, production and, very likely, exports would rise. At a time when the countrv needs both higher production and exports the shortage of skilled people has to be regarded as a matter of national concern

Apprenticeship figures have been declining both in Canterbury and elsewhere. There is therefore little chance that a sufficient supply of skilled people is going to come on to the market soon. The total intake of Canterbury 7 apprentices in the March vears were: 1976, 1012; 1977, 1108: 1978, 1046: and m 1979, 908 In Canterbury, engineering apprentice numbers remained high In 1976 there were 7.8. in 1977 there were 117, in 1978 there were 135. and only a slight drop to 109 occurred in 1979. Apprentices in carpentry showed the most dramatic decline, from 199 in 1976 to 94 in 1979. The loss in skilled tradesmen is attributable to a large extent to emigration, particularly to Aus-

tralia It cannot but be wondered how many of those now 7 in training will follow 7 the same paths.

In certain industries requiring skill more attention can probably be paid to retraining those already skilled in one trade to do other work. There is a role in this retraining for the technical institutes. It will, however, require a decision from the Government, from employers, and from unions to make such schemes possible. New Zealand will have to take advantage of new technology if it is to remain successful in the market-place. In a few years some of the conventional ways of regarding jobs will need to have changed. Those who train in one skill will probably need to add other skills to their qualifications. New Zealand can hardly remain internationally competitive if it does not move rapidly into the high technological industries. Retraining those who are skilled, and adding to ’their numbers is one of the continuing problems the country will face. Fear of technological innovation and advances will also imperil the basis of social welfare. Such innovations need not be the masters of industrial production: but they should be exploited in the interests of employment. productivity, and the consumer. Machines can be used to supply scarce skills in many industries, and their adjustment or replacement to meet new 7 requirements will often be less disruptive than retraining people for highly specialised and, perhaps, temporary work.