Australian CEO Skill Shortage Concern

Results from the Australian Industry Group and Deloitte’s national CEO survey were released on 22nd March detailing their expectations for the economy and concerns over skills shortages in the year ahead.

Chief executives from the Services, Manufacturing and Construction sectors were surveyed on their expectations for 2010. CEO’s in all three sectors expected to see improvements though activity is forecast to be stronger in the services and manufacturing sectors this year than in the construction. Manufacturers on average anticipate a 5.6% increase in the nominal value of sales in 2010, to around $415 billion, in the services sector sales are forecast to rise 6.6% and construction sales are expected to grow by 2.5% in 2010.

This improvement is expected to be driven by improved consumer confidence from income growth and employment prospects leading to rising household wealth, while the fading government stimulus and rising interest rates are expected to impact upon the construction Industry.

Employment in the three sectors is expected to grow with a 2.9% lift in the Manufacturing sector, 2.3% in the services sector and 0.5% in the construction industry expected. Employers in all three sectors expressed concerns about a possible re-emergence of skills shortages as the economy returns to growth and how this will impact on employment and wages.

8,500 Construction Jobs created as Australia Signs $60 Billion Gas Deal

THE signing of Australia's largest ever natural gas deal is expected to deliver up to 8500 construction jobs and another 1000 operational jobs.

The contract which could be worth between $60 - $80 billion over the 20 – year life of the project will see 3.6 million tonnes of LNG each year supplied to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation from the BG groups Curtis Island Project at Gladstone in Queensland.

Federal and State environmental approval for the project was expected by the middle of this year.The Australian reports the deal for the proposed project is the world’s first fully termed sales and purchase agreement for LNG sourced from coal seam gas.

Chinese investment in Australian resources has been the centre of heated debate over the past year however Australia seems committed to strengthening their relationship with China with more than $26bn of Chinese investment was approved in the Australian resources sector in 2008-09.

Bankers, Lawyers and Accountants Lead Australian Employment Recovery

The number of finance jobs in Australia is reported to be back at the same level as before the Global credit crisis struck.

Finance roles were the first to be affected by the crisis which hit the world in the second half of 2008. Figures show that 411,000 people were employed in the finance sector in August 2008 and the same number of people are now employed in the industry today in 2010.

Manufacturing and mining are also showing good signs of growth along with the finance sectors. However retail and property Industries are still shedding jobs.

Australia’s unemployment rate rose slightly from a twelve month low of 5.2 per cent to 5.3 per cent. The jobless rate in Australia is still well below the level in the world’s biggest economy, where the US unemployment rate was steady at 9.7 per cent in February.