The NSW Government have committed $160 million as part of the federal JobTrainer program, to help people reskill for jobs in the health, manufacturing and construction sectors.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said: “COVID-19 has presented an unprecedented challenge to our State, and Skilling for Recovery complements our current skills and training strategy.”
“It’s crucial we look to reskill, retrain and redeploy the workforce to industries where there are skills shortages and emerging employment opportunities. We are committed to ensuring the NSW workforce is the most highly skilled in the country.”
More than 100,000 people across NSW will have the opportunity to reskill due to the initiative titled Skilling for Recovery.
The NSW Government had committed almost $160 million to match the Federal Government’s JobTrainer funding, which would be a key component to the State’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan.
Related: “”Jobs, jobs and more jobs”: $3bn NSW infrastructure spend”
Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee said this investment would help job seekers retrain or up-skill to enhance their credentials and support school leavers to enter the workforce for the first time.
“We have to skill the workforce to take advantage of future job opportunities which may be very different to jobs in the pre-COVID economy,” Mr Lee said.
“Education and skills are key pillars to the NSW Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan, so it is a critical step to commit to these additional training places. I expect industries such as health, manufacturing and construction to be key training areas.”
The Skilling for Recovery initiative has also been met with support from Business NSW.
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon Business NSW Chief Executive Nola Watson said: “Although the full list of qualifications hasn’t yet been released, we would hope that JobTrainer will give businesses access to the skills they need, particularly as they respond to the challenges of COVID-19.”
“We would expect that governments would be open to refining the list, if required, to fully address these needs.”
Skilling for Recovery includes:
- Infrastructure-specific training to support the record spending on projects such as the Aerotropolis, hospital redevelopments and regional road upgrades
- Full-qualifications to retrain and become qualified
- Short course micro-credentials to upskill
- Support for apprentices and trainees
- A new online Skills and Employment Hub
- Regional employment brokers to connect industry and trainers with job seekers
Training is expected to commence in the coming months.
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