Print skills shortage is getting worse
With 15 per cent fewer apprentices going through Australian graphic arts colleges every year, the increase is the most dramatic of any manufacturing industry.
Current printing trades job vacancies in metropolitran newspapers are the highest since July 2000. According to Hagop Tchamkertenian, Printing Industries manager of industry and commercial policy, the shortage is starting to bite with the inability to find suitable labour figuring as an increasing obstacle to production in the Association's Industry Survey.
"In the June quarter there was a steep rise in the number of respondents experiencing difficulties finding skilled workers compared to even 12 months ago," he said.
According to Alan Wetheral, manager of printing and graphic arts services at Sydney Institute, the rise in skilled vacancies comes as no surprise, with dramatic falls across prepress and press apprentice intakes at the Graphic Arts Centre.
“There is an apathy towards training in the industry with printing companies unwilling to take on trainees,” he said. "I can understand their point of view; many are simply surviving with four per cent profit margins across a wide sector of the industry. But the skills shortage is starting to hit hard already, especially in the small offset sector where skilled workers usually operate as roustabouts, able to do some bindery as well as printing. The large companies appear to be doing better.”
The number of apprentices in training in the industry fell by over 35 per cent between 1987 and 2001. Currently there are 21 first year prepress and 24 printing apprentices at the Sydney Graphic Arts Centre, compared with over 160 and 200 respectively a decade ago. Similar declines are reported from around the country.
The sense of urgency is reinforced by Roy Aldrich, president of Printing Industries Victoria and head of the EPIC Industry Training Board in Victoria.
“People coming out of school are not even looking at coming into the industry. We’re not promoting printing and graphic arts as a sector with a future. There are some wonderful jobs and great careers in the industry, but the training agenda is upside down. It's time the industry took the problem more seriously,” he said.
Aldrich is one of two directors, along with AMWU delegate, Steve Walsh, representing the printing sector on the latest government training initiative, the Innovation & Business Industry Skills Council. The new Skills Council, one of seven national bodies under the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), represents six sectors;
According to John Vines, chairman of the Skills Council Board, the council will create a framework for ‘employability’ skills across different sectors of the ‘innovation economy’.
Traditionally the printing and graphic arts industry has relied on immigration of skilled tradespeople from England and South Africa to fulfil its skills shortages. But these sources appear to have well and truly dried up. Companies are looking more towards upskilling existing workers to fulfill their needs, but many are not taking the initiative.
“There are some good government schemes for on-the-job training, but few companies want to take it up, despite the money that is available,” concluded Wetherill.