Industry expert queries Government jobs data

Reported rise in skilled printing vacancies is not an accurate reflection of the situation, says Hagop Tchamkertenian.

According to data released by the Department of Employment, printing trades defied a nationwide trend by posting a rise of 3.1% in skilled vacancies in September over the previous month. This was the largest category increase with falls in 16 of the index's 18 sub groups. The only other rise reported was an increase of 2.3% for marketing and advertising professionals.

The index is at variance with industry experience, according to Hagop Tchamkertenian, national policy manager, Printing Industries. He believes labour shortages are still an issue for printers, although not as acute as nine or 12 months ago.

He points to the large migration of employment advertising to the internet and an industry tradition of internal networking to fill skilled positions. The Department’s skill vacancy index is based on a count of the number of skilled vacancy advertisements that appear in metropolitan newspapers around the country.

“While availability of skilled labour is still an issue for the printing industry I expect demand to slacken over the next year as more jobs go,” he said, describing the Government figures as “a statistical aberration.”

He pointed out that printing skill shortages were particularly severe in Western Australia and parts of Queensland due to the resources boom.