"A commitment to more TAFE places is a positive step but they need to be properly funded, targeted and resourced over the long term to make a meaningful difference," Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
"TAFE, and training generally, has struggled to keep up with the rapidly changing needs of industry, especially as jobs with high level digital skills are increasingly needed.
"Industry is struggling with skills shortages and labor mismatches which are hampering growth and productivity.
"More TAFE places and a better resourced vocational training sector is just one thing we need.
"The students need to spend time in real businesses to understand what is expected in workplaces when they graduate.
"Another national challenge is to find ways to train more engineers because right now we aren't even close to graduating enough engineers to meet our needs," Mr Willox said.
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