Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister advise the Senate on the prospects for jobs growth in Australia, including the challenges in managing a patchwork economy in which some sectors are experiencing strong growth while other sectors are doing it tough?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Stephens for her interest. I know she is very focused on the need to create jobs in this economy. During the period of global economic turmoil, Australia's economy, as I said earlier, stood in stark contrast to the rest of the world. While millions of jobs have been lost in Europe and the United States, the Australian economy has created around three-quarters of a million jobs since Labor came to office in 2007. Critically, we continued to create jobs during the worst of the global financial crisis. This is due to sensible economic management by the government and the stimulus efforts we put in place. While Australia is not immune from the turmoil being experienced in European financial markets in the short term, the prospects for medium-term jobs growth in Australia continue to be strong.

Immediate jobs growth will be driven by the pipeline of resource investments, which stands at more than $400 billion. In order to support these investments, my department estimates that Australia will need around 270,000 more construction and mining workers over the next five years. So that is more work for a range of people like welders, plumbers and brickies et cetera. It is also about creating high-skill jobs. We know there will be thousands of jobs for engineers, technicians, customer service personnel, trainers, cleaners, lawyers, scientists and accountants. In fact, in the next five years the department projects that Australia will need one million additional workers in the services industry. Job creation is one of the main benefits of the mining boom, but it will also give us the capacity to sustain jobs into the longer term and to continue to ensure that as Australians develop their skills during the mining boom, they have access to high-skill, high-pay jobs over the longer term.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister highlight what the Gillard government is doing to promote jobs for Australians and why the government's Skills Connect package is necessary to ensure job security for Australian workers and a smooth transition for the economy?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government are very much focused on ensuring Australians are first in line when it comes to accessing the jobs that are being created. Many of these are high-skill and high-pay jobs, but we do understand that there are sectors in the economy that are doing it tough and some workers have been impacted in a very real way by the structural adjustment which is occurring.

To ensure that Australians have the opportunity to upskill and reskill during this time of transition, the government have announced Skills Connect, a $110 million investment in a range of initiatives designed to consolidate the government's skills programs and better target industry and worker training. It will provide workers with the training they need to transform from sectors which are experiencing structural adjustment to sectors in which skilled labour is in strong demand. It is working with employers and unions to give those workers the opportunity to move to where the jobs are and to transition their skills for the demands of those growing industries.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given the importance of youth employment, can the minister advise what the government is doing to pursue and promote skills and jobs for young people?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The focus of this government from the beginning has been on education and skills training. We have made massive investments in that agenda to try to give young Australians the best opportunity to get good jobs. This year's budget was no different in that we put extra resources into assisting 160,000 early school-leavers with the foundation skills they need to succeed. Through Skills Connect, the government are investing $29 million to work with industry to get modern approaches to competency based apprenticeships. There are a whole range of measures directed at giving our young people the opportunity to participate in the economy and take up the skilled jobs that have been made available. I would like to congratulate the best of those: the Skillaroos, who competed at the Skills Olympics in London recently. They had fantastic results and did Australia proud. I commend them for their efforts in representing our country and displaying the skills of our young people to the world.