❓ Mrs. Hughes asks about the government's progress on its commitment to training 30,000 people. Mr. McGowan responds, highlighting the success of exceeding the target and addressing the skills shortage in Western Australia.
AnsweredQoN 28Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TRAINING FIGURES
I note that this government has met and surpassed its election commitment to ensure that 30 000 people are in training. Can he please update the house on the latest figures? Mr M. McGOWAN
I note that this government has met and surpassed its election commitment to ensure that 30 000 people are in training. Can he please update the house on the latest figures? Mr M. McGOWAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Kingsley for the question. There is no doubt that one of the pressing issues facing Western Australia is that of not having enough people to meet the needs of industry. This is an unusual problem. Ordinarily, there is the problem of too many people to fill the jobs that are available. These days there are too many jobs for the people who are available. If we are to meet the demands of industry, we must make sure that we maximise the number of people with the right skills throughout Western Australia. The education and training system has been working very hard on achieving this end over the past seven years or so. Since February 2001, 61 146 Western Australians have completed traineeships and apprenticeships. At present 35 200 people are undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship in Western Australia. At the last election, our aim was to reach the 30 000 mark. We have surpassed that, a year early, by 5 200. At the end of February 2001 the number was 18 743; therefore, the number of people undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships in Western Australia now is roughly double that number. This has been an amazing success story. The fact that the training system has been able to cope with this number of people, the fact that the amount of time to complete many traditional apprenticeships has been reduced, and the fact that there is greater collaboration between schools throughout Western Australia and the training system to get people into school-based apprenticeships and traineeships and therefore on the way to acquiring a trade at the conclusion of their schooling has been an amazing success story. It does not receive much attention, but it is a very significant economic success story that means far more, as tens of thousands of Western Australians will be able to take advantage of all the good jobs and opportunities available in Western Australia today.
Mr M. McGOWAN replied: I thank the member for Kingsley for the question. There is no doubt that one of the pressing issues facing Western Australia is that of not having enough people to meet the needs of industry. This is an unusual problem. Ordinarily, there is the problem of too many people to fill the jobs that are available. These days there are too many jobs for the people who are available. If we are to meet the demands of industry, we must make sure that we maximise the number of people with the right skills throughout Western Australia. The education and training system has been working very hard on achieving this end over the past seven years or so. Since February 2001, 61 146 Western Australians have completed traineeships and apprenticeships. At present 35 200 people are undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship in Western Australia. At the last election, our aim was to reach the 30 000 mark. We have surpassed that, a year early, by 5 200. At the end of February 2001 the number was 18 743; therefore, the number of people undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships in Western Australia now is roughly double that number. This has been an amazing success story. The fact that the training system has been able to cope with this number of people, the fact that the amount of time to complete many traditional apprenticeships has been reduced, and the fact that there is greater collaboration between schools throughout Western Australia and the training system to get people into school-based apprenticeships and traineeships and therefore on the way to acquiring a trade at the conclusion of their schooling has been an amazing success story. It does not receive much attention, but it is a very significant economic success story that means far more, as tens of thousands of Western Australians will be able to take advantage of all the good jobs and opportunities available in Western Australia today.
I thank the member for Kingsley for the question. There is no doubt that one of the pressing issues facing Western Australia is that of not having enough people to meet the needs of industry. This is an unusual problem. Ordinarily, there is the problem of too many people to fill the jobs that are available. These days there are too many jobs for the people who are available. If we are to meet the demands of industry, we must make sure that we maximise the number of people with the right skills throughout Western Australia. The education and training system has been working very hard on achieving this end over the past seven years or so. Since February 2001, 61 146 Western Australians have completed traineeships and apprenticeships. At present 35 200 people are undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship in Western Australia. At the last election, our aim was to reach the 30 000 mark. We have surpassed that, a year early, by 5 200. At the end of February 2001 the number was 18 743; therefore, the number of people undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships in Western Australia now is roughly double that number. This has been an amazing success story. The fact that the training system has been able to cope with this number of people, the fact that the amount of time to complete many traditional apprenticeships has been reduced, and the fact that there is greater collaboration between schools throughout Western Australia and the training system to get people into school-based apprenticeships and traineeships and therefore on the way to acquiring a trade at the conclusion of their schooling has been an amazing success story. It does not receive much attention, but it is a very significant economic success story that means far more, as tens of thousands of Western Australians will be able to take advantage of all the good jobs and opportunities available in Western Australia today.
Mr M. McGOWAN replied: I thank the member for Kingsley for the question. There is no doubt that one of the pressing issues facing Western Australia is that of not having enough people to meet the needs of industry. This is an unusual problem. Ordinarily, there is the problem of too many people to fill the jobs that are available. These days there are too many jobs for the people who are available. If we are to meet the demands of industry, we must make sure that we maximise the number of people with the right skills throughout Western Australia. The education and training system has been working very hard on achieving this end over the past seven years or so. Since February 2001, 61 146 Western Australians have completed traineeships and apprenticeships. At present 35 200 people are undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship in Western Australia. At the last election, our aim was to reach the 30 000 mark. We have surpassed that, a year early, by 5 200. At the end of February 2001 the number was 18 743; therefore, the number of people undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships in Western Australia now is roughly double that number. This has been an amazing success story. The fact that the training system has been able to cope with this number of people, the fact that the amount of time to complete many traditional apprenticeships has been reduced, and the fact that there is greater collaboration between schools throughout Western Australia and the training system to get people into school-based apprenticeships and traineeships and therefore on the way to acquiring a trade at the conclusion of their schooling has been an amazing success story. It does not receive much attention, but it is a very significant economic success story that means far more, as tens of thousands of Western Australians will be able to take advantage of all the good jobs and opportunities available in Western Australia today.
I thank the member for Kingsley for the question. There is no doubt that one of the pressing issues facing Western Australia is that of not having enough people to meet the needs of industry. This is an unusual problem. Ordinarily, there is the problem of too many people to fill the jobs that are available. These days there are too many jobs for the people who are available. If we are to meet the demands of industry, we must make sure that we maximise the number of people with the right skills throughout Western Australia. The education and training system has been working very hard on achieving this end over the past seven years or so. Since February 2001, 61 146 Western Australians have completed traineeships and apprenticeships. At present 35 200 people are undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship in Western Australia. At the last election, our aim was to reach the 30 000 mark. We have surpassed that, a year early, by 5 200. At the end of February 2001 the number was 18 743; therefore, the number of people undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships in Western Australia now is roughly double that number. This has been an amazing success story. The fact that the training system has been able to cope with this number of people, the fact that the amount of time to complete many traditional apprenticeships has been reduced, and the fact that there is greater collaboration between schools throughout Western Australia and the training system to get people into school-based apprenticeships and traineeships and therefore on the way to acquiring a trade at the conclusion of their schooling has been an amazing success story. It does not receive much attention, but it is a very significant economic success story that means far more, as tens of thousands of Western Australians will be able to take advantage of all the good jobs and opportunities available in Western Australia today.
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