Skill development for workers too weak

Tertiary Education Strategy: skill development for workers too weak

The CTU believes that the Government’s Tertiary Education Strategy released today should have a stronger focus on supporting workers to develop skills that will provide more secure and well-paid jobs.

The Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment launched the new Tertiary Education Strategy for 2014-19 at the Higher Education Summit today.

Peter Conway, CTU Secretary, said that “there are growing skill shortages in the economy, alongside persistently high unemployment, pressures from employers to bring in more migrants. And this is in a so-called rock star economy with rock bottom wages for many”.

“The Government needs to draw these threads together and significantly scale up investment in skills development”.

Peter Conway said that the CTU has made this point in submissions but he noted that whereas unions are not mentioned even once in the strategy, ‘business’ is referenced 24 times.

“Once again we see that the Business Growth Agenda that the Government frames all policy around misses out consideration of what works really need”.

ENDS

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