Today, over 50 industry and local employment representatives from the Illawarra met to discuss the state of the region’s employment concerns ahead of the National Jobs Summit in September.

Led by Stephen Jones Member for Whitlam, Fiona Phillips Member for Gilmore and Alison Byrnes Member for Cunningham, the forum discussed issues ranging from skills shortages, employment security to the need for more workforce.

The forum was also an opportunity to form actionable solutions to convey as part of an Illawarra-focussed submission to the National Jobs Summit.

Solutions raised included the need for greater job security for workers, increased access to childcare, more efforts to inspire school-aged children to pursue STEM careers, improved worker pay and conditions, the need for affordable local housing, and many others. Immigration opportunities were also discussed in the forum and although important, is only one piece in a bigger puzzle.

Quotes Attributable to Stephen Jones, Member for Whitlam:

“We are in a worker shortage crisis. 10 years ago, there was not enough jobs and too many workers. Today, we have more jobs than we do workers.”

“Although it’s positive that our national unemployment rate is at 3.4%, we need to ensure we are supporting businesses so they can hire the right people and in turn grow their businesses.”

“Today was a great opportunity to listen to representatives from the region and I am looking forward to the upcoming National Jobs Summit to ensure the Illawarra is well-represented and concerns are heard.”

Quotes attributable to Fiona Phillips, Member for Gilmore:

“Our communities and local industry have so many wonderful ideas about how we can address our shared jobs and skills challenges. It was fascinating to hear directly from those on the front lines of this crisis today.”

“One of the interesting aspects was seeing the seeds being sown for synergies and collaboration across different parts of the economy that may not get a lot of exposure to each other, which was wonderful to see.”

“We have a big job ahead of us, but we are committed to doing everything possible to support local businesses, local workers and improve our economic outputs.”

Quotes attributable to Alison Byrnes, Member for Cunningham:

“Illawarra and South Coast business leaders, unions, and community leaders came together today to share ideas about how we can address local skills shortages.”

“Another key issue raised was education – from early childhood education to school education to TAFE and University and making sure they are equipped to educate and train our local workers for next generation jobs in new and existing industries.”

“I was really heartened by the genuine desire for community, business and union leaders to work together to improve job security, wages and working conditions to better attract and retain workers.”

Representatives from a myriad of industries including aged care, childcare and manufacturing were in attendance with views formed going to the National Jobs Summit in September this year.