A new report has found that Australia will have a skills shortage of 1.4 million workers by 2025, if the Government doesn’t act on raising the retirement age and boosting immigration.
The report by the Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce, to be presented at a summit in Melbourne on Tuesday, said unless changes were made, the nation’s job participation rate would fall from 65.2 percent to 61.8 percent by 2025.
According to reports in The Australian, the organisation is calling on both Federal and State Governments to lift barriers to older workers and boost skilled migration.
“To meet moderate levels of labour-demand growth, Australia’s participation rate would need to be 68 percent,” one of the report’s authors Darin Ritchie told the newspaper.
“To address this workforce deficit, Australia needs to raise the average retirement age, increase the workforce participation of disadvantaged groups, increase migration, or offset labour demand through productivity growth.”
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