Almost half of NSW businesses are having difficulty finding skilled employees as they compete with the pay packets on offer to qualified workers in the mining sector.

The NSW Business Chamber and Commonwealth Bank business conditions survey shows skills shortages across all main industry sectors have increased dramatically since the end of last year. Nearly 47 per cent of firms surveyed said they were experiencing skills shortages, up from 39 per cent in November.

The report says the chamber continues to receive reports of ‘‘skilled tradespeople moving to highly paid mining jobs in Western Australia and Queensland’’.

The federal government has projected a shortfall of 36,000 tradespeople in the resources sector by 2015 and the Reserve Bank says wages growth in the sector is increasing. A spokesman for the chamber, Paul Ritchie, said regions of Sydney poorly served by public transport, such as the north-east and the northern beaches, were having particular trouble attracting and retaining skilled staff.

‘‘The feedback is that public transport and congestion problems has impacted on the ability of businesses to get skilled staff,’’  he said. ‘‘There is a clear link to public transport deficiencies.’’

A Housing Industry Association report published last week showed a persistent shortage of skilled labour in the residential building industry. The association’s chief economist, Harley Dale, said the industry was bracing for an exodus of skilled workers to the mining regions of central Queensland andWestern Australia.

Federal government data show that NSW is suffering statewide shortages in a range of occupations, including childcare workers, nurses and bakers. Ravinder Singh, the manager of Bakers Delight in Glebe, says his store has a chronic shortage of skilled workers. He has four bakers on staff but would like to employ several more.

‘‘Bakery apprenticeships take three or four years – that’s too long for people to survive on an apprentice wage and so lots of people drop out halfway through,’’ he said.

A recent report by a federally appointed expert panel found employers are not investing enough in training and that only 48 per cent of Australia’s apprentices finished their training.

It said that completion rate was ‘‘unacceptably low’’ and called for a shake-up in the vocational training system.

Economists have warned the supply of skilled labour in Australia will be stretched by the huge volume of mining-related projects in the pipeline. The tight labour market threatens to push up wages and therefore interest rates. Business groups have called for greater use of temporary migration visas for big investment projects.

Nationally, less than half of vacancies for resource sector professionals, automotive trades and hairdressers were filled last year. Only 61 per cent of skilled job vacancies in Australia were filled last year compared with 65 per cent in 2009.

The NSW Business Chamber report says skill shortages are most evident in construction trades, technicians (for example, refrigeration and airconditioning), metal trades, engineers, accountants, ICT professionals, health and community support services, sales and marketing, and professional, scientific and technical services.

The report warned NSW would face additional pressures as employees were attracted to reconstruction work in Queensland after this year’s floods and cyclone Yasi.

It also showed an increasing number of NSW firms expect wages to rise.

‘‘Given that we have got skill shortages and that the cloud of the global financial crisis has cleared I think there is a broader expectation that wage rises are coming,’’ Mr Ritchie said.

The survey showed business conditions in NSW had plateaued at a relatively subdued level last month although firms were optimistic about the future. This was attributed to last month’s change of state government.


They’re hard to find, and harder to keep
Melissa Davey

For the past year Jaclyn Bold has been trying to employ a welder. But no one wants the job.

Ms Bold, the managing director of MobiMech, a mechanical and auto-electrical workshop in Caringbah, said itwas hard to fill vacancies, especially for mechanics and auto electricians.

‘‘Many times the applicants are not suitable and turn out to have less skills than they claimed,’’ she said. ‘‘I was lucky on my last placement — a customer decided they wanted a career change so I offered him an adult apprenticeship on the spot and he said yes.’’

Sponsoring people from overseas is not an option. ‘‘I don’t have the expertise and I don’t have the time or finances to wait until they get their qualifications upgraded toAustralian standards,’’ she said. ‘‘The ability to find staff with exceptional skills
hampered the growth of Mobi-Mech by about 12 months.’’

While the employees she did find were excellent, Ms Bold said there needed to be more training, including advanced training courses, to keep staff motivated. She said younger people were less willing to stick a job out for a few years before earning a
better salary.

‘‘When they realise they will not earn the same as a mechanic who has been working on their career for 10 years, many are leaving the profession ... A few of my staff in the past have left their mechanical trade towork for big money in the mines.’’

Steve McGinty, 21, is a welder and boilermaker from Perth. He is one of many choosing to work in the mines. ‘‘I can earn about twice as much working in Karratha than if I were employed somewhere in Perth,’’ he said.

‘‘It would be harder for those wanting to settle down and start a family, because I work four weeks on and one week off, and 60-hour weeks. But for nowit is allowing me to save money.’’

Clark Equipment, a Hornsby manufacturer and distributor of machinery for mining and construction, has lost workers to mining  companies. Clark could not compete with the salaries offered, and employing workers from overseaswas often too risky and
expensive, JoeRoche, the human resources manager at Clark, said.

‘‘We’ve tried ... but as soon as they get theirAustralian residency they quit andwork for the mines.’’