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| MELBOURNE 3AK ROB ELLIOTT 7.25PM 19TH MARCH, 2003. |
OVER TWENTY-THREE PER CENT OF APPRENTICESHIPS AND TRAINEESHIPS ARE OCCUPIED BY PEOPLE AGED OVER FORTY. INTERVIEW WITH JIM BARRON, GROUP TRAINING AUSTRALIA. |
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MICHAEL POPE – FILL-IN PRESENTER:
Just before the seven o’clock news we were talking about apprenticeships and the fact that seventy-one thousand of them have been taken up by people over forty. That’s in a trend that’s gone skywards in the last few years. Older workers took up twenty-three point two per cent of all apprenticeships and traineeships begun in the December quarter of last year. And this challenges the old fashioned thought that I had that apprenticeships and scholarships are for the very young. Someone who can tell us if this trend is new and whether it’s going to continue to go up, and how the, elderly is certainly not the world to explain it, is James Barron the CEO of Group Training Australia. Hello James. JAMES BARRON – GROUP TRAINING AUSTRALIA: Michael, how are you? POPE: Good thank you. This re-skilling of people over forty; is it something that is new or have we been through these phases before? BARRON: No, I think it - since the training system has sort of been opened up a lot in the last six to seven years, what you were talking about before, I think a lot of people had the image of the traditional trades, the four year apprenticeship which is still very important of course - POPE: Yes. BARRON: And a lot of those - majority of those people would be school leavers. Now that the system has been opened up where there’s a lot of traineeships, maybe twelve month, eighteen month traineeships – the service industry, hotel industry, finance industry, IT – a lot of people at the age of forty or over are now taking the opportunity to buy into that flexible market and to see what’s on offer and to shop around. POPE: Do you know if people are taking up scholarships because of, you know, being forced to leave the job that they’re in, either through redundancy or downsizing or so forth, or are they just choosing to bail out of one area and going, well, hang on, there’s access to re-skilling here, I’ll take it up. Just before the news we had a caller who was retrenched but saw it as an opportunity to do something she’d always love to do. BARRON: I think there’s a bit of both of that. I think clearly the labour market these days is very tough and very competitive. Employers are looking for a lot more from employees; skills. Existing workers need to upgrade their existing skills. Those who’ve been out of the labour force for awhile for various reasons need to retrain. So I think it’s a combination of reasons but I think the good thing about it is that people at the age of forty, and for a lot of people life does begin at forty, they’ve chosen a career path that is new and different. They’ve taken the opportunity to take a new traineeship and start their life - working life again. POPE: It’s a real change, isn’t it, from when our mums and dads joined the work force one generation ago - BARRON: Absolutely. POPE: The thought that, you know, you do your schooling, you might get some tertiary education, and then whatever you land in that’s where you’ll be until you retire with a handshake at fifty-five. BARRON: That’s right. POPE: Put your hat on for twenty years in the future: our kids, are they going to face an even more - I don’t know what the word is, kind of environment in the work force? BARRON: I think they are. I think the whole issue of lifelong learning where it’s just not twelve years in a classroom, it’s continual training and learning throughout your working life, is going to become more and more of an issue for school leavers as well as post-school leavers. Those who are at university, the figures from people at university going back to doing a vocation education training course as well, finding more opportunity there rather than a higher education course, is becoming more and more of the norm. So I think over the next two decades this pattern will continue to increase but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think variety is the spice of life and I think if people are given the opportunity to change their lifestyle, their working habits, when they can, they take the opportunity to do so, and that’s a good thing. POPE: Can you explain, if you will, the words in the report of a labour shortage forecast to hit Australia in the next three years. BARRON: Well, I think what that report was saying was that it was referring to a trend that is showing up in some of the traditional trades where there’s a skill shortage, as they call it. In some of the more, you know, the mechanics, carpentry, plumbing, electricians, etc., there are definite trends there that there are some skill shortages that there are not enough people taking up those trades and apprenticeships. And we’ve got to do something about that, if not, we’ll have a skills crisis on our hands and I’m sure. But that means that employers must begin to invest more in training. Governments must begin to reassess their approach to training in the traditional trades to ensure that we don’t have this labour shortage in traditional trades which are basically the backbone of our country. POPE: We can see from these figures that the employees are taking up the opportunities to retrain and so forth. Are employers welcoming older workers into their companies? BARRON: I think a lot of employers are certainly retraining their existing work force. And the numbers are continuing to increase there. I think in the small - over the - the smaller businesses where, you know, margins are very tight, training is a financial cost to them. Some employers still see training as a cost rather than investment. We’ve got to change that culture as well to ensure that as many employers as possible see training as an investment rather than a cost, and provide the opportunities to their work force to re-skill and upgrade their skills. POPE: A couple of elections ago, I think it was, there was a real cry from the mature age worker who was finding themselves on the unemployment heap and so forth. A cry from lack of opportunities and also the … I guess the social stigma perhaps attached to that… BARRON: Yes. POPE: That media attention seems to have dissipated. Is it because things are getting better for the older employer who wants to change jobs … employee rather who wants to change jobs? BARRON: Well, I think many of them probably take the view that they either have two choices; they either train or retrain, or they get left behind. And I think, pragmatically, clearly many of them have families to raise; clearly many don’t have the option to just take the dole for a number of years. They want to get back into the work force. They want to, you know, improve their lot. So they do take the opportunity to retrain and it’s a courageous decision for many people to do it. And good on them, I say. POPE: Sure. Just to wrap up, we’re with James Barron the CEO of Group Training Australia. If anyone is listening who is in that position either of seeking new employment or perhaps thinking of getting out where they are, where are the vacancies for people today? What kind of industries should people look towards re-skilling in? BARRON: Well, I think - the vacancies in the popular areas for over forties in the traineeships are the hospitality area, the health industry, the IT area… POPE: Sorry, on health, where do you mean? Do you mean… BARRON: Aged care, primarily. POPE: As care givers? As doctors and nurses? BARRON: As health workers. A lot of them find that their experience and their values in life and their work experience in the past stands them in good stead when they get positions of employment within aged care homes or health facilities. So that’s a very popular area. Another way that they can find out what’s going on is at our own 1800 number, they might be able to ring and find out more information about what is available in different fields and different opportunities. POPE: Excellent. BARRON: And I can give you that 1800 number if you want. POPE: Yes, go ahead James. BARRON: 1800 819 747 POPE: 747. 1800 819 747 if you are looking at a certain stage in your life to re-skill, or even if you just want more information about the kind of opportunities that there. 1800 819 747, that’s for Group Training Australia. Thanks for your time James. BARRON: Thank you Michael. POPE: All the best. BARRON: Okay, bye. END OF SEGMENT |
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