Demand for Engineering Jobs
Engineers Australia has always worked closely with industry and in my role this year I have continued to get out and meet regularly with engineering employers across the state. The message I am hearing is consistent, that they are struggling to get certainty around the forward pipeline of work. This has already had notable impacts on engineering employment, and Queensland is similar to the rest of Australia in terms of the reduced rate of employment in the profession. This is a stark contrast to the environment of 5 years ago when the profession was in a boom.
There are a number of issues to consider when evaluating engineering employment conditions and a number of actions that Engineers Australia are taking to try to improve this situation.
With over 60,000 engineers employed in infrastructure delivery across Australia, engineers and their employers are often the hardest hit by fluctuations in infrastructure investment. With state and federal governments being major players in infrastructure delivery in this country, it is a sad reality that infrastructure decisions are more linked to election cycles than long term community requirements. These boom/bust cycles mean that employers lack the long-term certainty needed to train and sustain a domestic workforce, and local training and education providers lack the certainty to make the long-term investments needed to grow domestic enrolments and graduations. This affects the productivity, capability and cost of these resources over time. Engineers Australia continues to push for the de-politicisation of infrastructure investment and the need for a stable pipeline of work to minimise potential boom/bust cycles. This will be a key consideration as we work with both political parties in the lead up to the 2015 Queensland election.
Another consideration surrounding employment is that the world is becoming a smaller place and we are seeing larger multinationals operating in Australia and utilising resources inside and outside the state and country. I spoke about Offshoring in an earlier Presidents message and it is something that the Centre of Engineering Leadership and Management are continuing to hold a number of sessions on. Australia is still developing when considering how to operate in a more international context, but the most important factor is that we start to have an open discussion and look and both opportunities and threats and take a measured approach to evolving our industries and the profession.
It is worth noting that over 50 percent of Australia’s engineering workforce is now overseas born, which is among the highest proportion of any professional group. Many of these skilled engineers came to Australia and Queensland during the previous boom and some are now struggling to find employment. Last week I attended a meeting of our Overseas Qualified Engineers and found it incredibly challenging to hear some of the stories of people who had relocated their families and uprooted their lives to come to Australia in the last few years, but now had to consider leaving.
With the current challenges facing the engineering employment environment, the Government’s scheme to issue temporary 457 visas does not help relieve the pressures of current Australian and Queensland based engineers seeking work. We will be releasing some media about issues that have emerged with the current temporary visa scheme in the coming week, but in short we are encouraging a more long-term approach to labour planning, including skilled migration and only having requirements supplemented by temporary visas at times of peak demand.
It is not all doom and gloom though, as we are seeing some good strategic work in the development of a range of long-term government documents such as the Queensland Plan and the subsequent “Q” strategies- “ConstructionQ, WaterQ, PowerQ etc. What has to happen next is that these plans get implemented and that we start to get commitment for the infrastructure to support these objectives. This commitment is the most critical point and it is needed soon. We will continue to work strongly in this sphere for both the interest of our communities as well as our profession.
In more positive news the countdown is on for our National Convention at the end of November in Melbourne. It is will be the preeminent engineering event in Australia with a great range of speakers locked in. Can I encourage members and employers to go to the convention website and look at how the program may benefit you or your staff.
Convention 2014
I thank you again for your continued support of your profession and of the Queensland Division of Engineers Australia.
Blake E. Harvey MIEAust CPEng
Queensland Division President