Skills shortage threatens forestry sector's growing future
A critical skills shortage is threatening the future of the buoyant wood and paper products industry, according to an industry leader.
ITC chief executive Vince Erasmus said the shortage was undermining the sector's viability and success in the medium to long term.
"The skills shortage involves specific roles such as foresters, saw doctors, wood machinists and harvesting machine operators, as well as general trades such as electricians, engineers, fitters and truck drivers," Mr Erasmus said at a conference in Canberra.
"It also includes a lack of workers in the areas of administration, accounting, management and marketing."
Mr Erasmus said the average age of tertiary-trained foresters was 44 years old, reflecting the lack of young people studying forestry.
"This has been attributed in part to the 'demonisation of the industry' by more radical parts of the green movement," he said. "Many organisations in the forestry sector report negative perceptions about the industry from the public."
High wages in the mining industry also made it hard for forestry to attract workers. Mr Erasmus said as the industry became more technically advanced, employees with more sophisticated skills were needed.
"And because Australia's plantation-derived wood and paper products industry is relatively young, companies are only now realising the need for different skills during different periods of the plantation cycle," he said.
Mr Erasmus welcomed the Federal Government's budget announcement of $1 million for the new forest and forest products industry skills council.
"We must also consider methods to compete in the broader 'war for talent'," he said. "This must undoubtedly include consideration of how to share the training burden as an industry, so that staff at all levels are supported to develop their skills.
"We must also seek (an) alternative way to access different talent pools to bring new talent into our organisations and the sector."
Mr Erasmus said the industry's future was exciting. "With plantation maturation, more plantations and the opening of more plants and infrastructure, the industry's effect on Australia's workforce and gross domestic product is set to grow - but not without serious attention to the skills shortage," he said.
[Sourced from The Age: http://business.theage.com.au/skills-shortage-threatens-forestry-sectors-growing-future-20080522-2hbi.html]
