Kwinana industry strip faces future skills shortage

Kwinana Industries Council believes the State Government needs to help second and third- tier businesses along the strip to employ apprentices now if it is to have any chance of combating the threat of a skills shortage come 2025.

KIC director Chris Oughton said the Kwinana Industrial Area employed 30,000 skilled people and believed by 2025, the region's workforce would be considerably short of highly skilled workers in fields such as engineering, trades, human resources, environment, safety, process operators and chief executives.

He said of the 30,000 employees, 64 per cent were from the baby boomer generation, which were expected to retire within 10 to 12 years.

Mr Oughton said their retirement would leave a huge gap in necessary skill sets because business had been "tough" for the past six years and the number of businesses offering apprenticeships and traineeships had dropped.

"If there was one thing which would be a significant part of the answer it would be government investment to encourage employers to take on trainees and apprentices," he said.

"The transition into apprenticeships is no longer there because students are forced to stay at school longer, which means it's a lot harder for those who do not do well academically at school to get an apprenticeship now because they are competing with those who get better grades."

He said there needed to be greater recognition of the broad benefits that a healthy mid-tier industrial environment brought to the State for its capacity to train the future workforce.