Three out of four SA tourism businesses report workers lack appropriate skills, report finds

JOB opportunities abound in the state’s tourism sector but its growth is being hampered by the most poorly skilled workforce in the nation, a report reveals.

The Australian Tourism Labour Force Report found 75 per cent of SA businesses identified “skills deficiencies” among their employees, a higher proportion than any other state or territory.

The biggest shortcoming was a mismatch of skills with job requirements, followed by lack of experience. Cleaners and waiters were the most likely to lack appropriate skills.

The job vacancy rate for the sector was 9 per cent in SA, above the national average and amounted to more than 2700 positions.

More than 260 SA businesses and almost 2000 nationwide were surveyed for the report, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics for the Australian Trade Commission and Austrade.

Restaurant and Catering Australia deputy chief executive Sally Neville said SA had a “dire shortage” of chefs, cooks and restaurant managers, but many unemployed people either did not want to work in the industry or could no longer access subsidised training.

She said the industry would fail to grow as quickly as it should and service standards would fall without a shift in State Government policy to restore training options.

Opposition skills spokesman David Pisoni said the report showed training policies had consistently failed to meet industry needs.

He said even for roles where skills were largely learned on the job, employers were looking for people trained in areas such as responsible service of alcohol and occupational health and safety.

SA tourism businesses were more likely to hire locals or people from elsewhere in the state and only half as reliant on foreign workers compared with national rates.

But SA workers were less likely to be employed full-time (28 per cent versus 35 per cent nationally).

Skills Minister Gail Gago said the new WorkReady training policy was” specifically designed to better target training towards job opportunities”.

“It is estimated that the Government will subsidise at least 2600 training places for VET courses in tourism in 2015-16,” she said.

Source: Adelaide Now, Tim Williams, 9^th November 2015
Originally published as: Three out of four SA tourism businesses report workers lack appropriate skills, report finds