The Commissioner of Jobs and Skills in Australia Professor Barney Glover has highlighted on the importance of understanding why we have skill shortages and what we can do about those shortages.
Speaking with The Fiji Times online news portal The Lens@177, he said skill shortage in any country was mainly due to skill migration.
“Well, I can’t comment on labour migration broadly,” Prof Glover said.
“What I can say though, is that in the Australian context, one of my responsibilities is to provide advice to Government about why we have skill shortages.
“Because one response to a skill shortage in any country is skill migration. Either temporary skill migration, or other forms of labour mobility, or for that matter, more permanent migration.”
He said this had always been an opportunity here in Fiji.
“We’re seeing similar labour mobility opportunities in Fiji, but the context in Australia for jobs and skills Australia is we need to understand why we have shortages, what we can do about those shortages, so that we can uplift more Australians to participate so that we have less reliance on skilled migration, not more reliance on it.
“So, labour mobility fits within a broader context of global talent, in a way global talents move. But in the Australian context we realise we have very important targets to increase post-secondary education levels and participation in the workforce for tertiary qualified people.
“We have set very significant targets and to achieve those targets we need to see more Australians enter into post-secondary education in the right areas for those job in the future.
“So my very strong focus is on uplifting Australians.”
For the full episode of Prof Glovers interview, tune into The Fiji Times Facebook page and YouTube channel tonight at 7pm.
