Skills shortage feared

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 8

Skills shortage feared

PA Rotorua Economic growth could be constrained by a severe shortage of trained people, said the Minister of Labour, Mr Rodger, yesterday. “The warning signs of an inadequate training system are already evident,” he told the Vocational Training Council and the Industry Training Boards’ biennial conference at Rotorua. “I find it disturbing that after only a short period of some growth in the economy, and with unemployment still at high levels, some indications of skills shortages have emerged,” said Mr Rodger. Training had a low priority in New Zealand compared with many other countries.

The training of adult

workers would become a prominent issue over the next few years, Mr Rodger said. Technological change within occupations and structural change within the economy were likely to mean that more people previously settled in jobs would want the chance to update their skills or acquire new ones. Many of those now at work had missed traditional training opportunities, particularly during the recent years of low apprenticeship intakes, and would be eager to seek a second chance, he said. Increasing numbers of women returning to the workforce were also likely to seek opportunities to develop their potential more fully.