Jobs And Skills Summit Almost Here

Unions, employers and representatives from the community and governments will come together at the Jobs and Skills Summit on September 1 and 2 to discuss all things jobs and skills.

The Summit will be held at Parliament House in Canberra and result in an Employment White Paper aimed at helping shape Australia’s labour-market future.

The Prime Minister and Treasurer will lead the Summit working with all Ministers, with key contributions from Finance Minister and Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, who will have a particular focus on the labour market experiences of women, along with Ministers Burke, Rishworth, O’Connor, O’Neil and Husic.

Topics to be covered at the Summit include:

• Keeping unemployment low, boosting productivity and raising incomes;
• Delivering secure, well-paid jobs and strong, sustainable wage growth;
• Expanding employment opportunities for all Australians including the most disadvantaged;
• Addressing skills shortages and getting our skills-mix right over the long-term;
• Improving migration settings to support higher productivity and wages;
• Maximising jobs and opportunities from renewable energy, tackling climate change, the digital economy, the care economy and a Future Made in Australia;
• Ensuring women have equal opportunities and equal pay.

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) Acting CEO, Edwina MacDonald welcomed the Summit.

“As we continue to face the increasing cost of living, we must ensure that we don’t lose momentum on achieving full employment,” Ms MacDonald said.

“The Summit provides us all with a real opportunity to look at the underlying issues preventing people from getting any or enough decent paid work, and develop together an agreed strategy for achieving full employment.

“We haven’t had full employment in Australia for 50 years and we’re not there yet.

“Most of the growth in employment since the pandemic began has been in high-skilled jobs, such as managers and professionals, for which most people on income support payments are not qualified.

“People with disabilities, people who are long-term unemployed and older people are a the back of the job queue, not because they aren’t trying, but because many employers are unwilling to give them a chance.

“Only consistently low unemployment and a fresh investment in robust workforce planning, decent employment services, appropriate training programs, and paid and relevant work experience will change that.”

Treasury will invite submissions and engage the wider community over the next 12 months.

• Topics:

• Employment & Training