Jobs and Skills Australia begins its work

Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) has today been formally established, after legislation passed through Parliament and received Royal Assent.

Minister for Skills and Training, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, said JSA will begin its important work providing independent advice to government on current and emerging workforce needs.

“JSA will have a tripartite approach with state and territory governments, employers, business peaks, unions and training providers to provide independent advice to government on current and emerging workforce needs.

“Australia faces one of its biggest economic challenges in decades – a lack of skilled workers across the labour market,” Minister O’Connor said.

“We have invested an additional $12.9 million in last month’s budget to help JSA more precisely identify and anticipate skills shortages, based on the best available evidence.

“This Government is providing $1.9 million so that JSA can get to work preparing a capacity study into Australia’s clean energy workforce to provide better analysis of the skills needed to support the clean energy transition.

“JSA will also lead the development and delivery of a $12 million study on adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy skills, which will provide up-to-date evidence on the level of foundation skills among Australian adults.

“This is on top of our investment in 180,000 fee free TAFE and vocational education places across all States and Territories from January 2023. 

“We’ll set the skills and training sector back on the right path to provide for a secure economy and bright future for all Australians.

“We’ll continue to consult on the next phase of the legislation on how the JSA will operate.”