Productivity Places Program
As part of its Skilling Australia for the future initiative, the Australian
Government recognises the importance of nationally endorsed training in
assisting job seekers to acquire skills and gain lasting employment and
assisting existing workers to update or upgrade their skills.
Under the Skilling Australia for the future initiative,
the government has funded the Productivity Places Program which will deliver
450,000 training places over four years to ensure that Australian workers
develop the skills they need. These training places will be delivered in an
industry-driven system, ensuring that training is more responsive to the needs
of businesses and participants. Of these places, 275,000 training places will be
allocated to existing workers wanting to gain or upgrade their skills, including
45,000 apprenticeship places, and 175,000 places will be allocated to job
seekers of which 20,000 will be apprenticeship places. The Productivity Places
Program training will be delivered by approved Registered Training Organisations
(RTO). To be approved an RTO must make application to the Department of
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). Refer to http://www.productivityplaces.deewr.gov.au/home.htm for details.
The objective of the Productivity Places Program is to increase the skill level of the working age population and to keep up with the skills demands that are being placed on the Australian economy, industry sectors and its workers.
The Productivity Places Program training places will allocated on the basis of priority occupations.
Priority occupations for the 1 April to 30 June 2008
listing are occupations assessed as being in demand and occupations for which
employers have experienced recruitment difficulty. The list of priority
occupations reflects the results of work undertaken by DEEWR as part of its
Skills in Demand research and regional and employer surveys including some
initial advice from Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA). Occupations
are defined in terms of the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations.
For a copy of the full list of occupations available from 1 April 2008 go to:
DEEWR has identified the following IBSA occupations as priority occupations for the 1 April to 30 June 2008 phase of the Productivity Places Program:
| 4913-11 Binder and Finisher |
| 4316-13 Communications Lineperson |
| 4316-11 General Communications Tradesperson |
| 4914-11 Screen Printer |
| 6211 Sales Representatives |
| 2211-11 Accountant |
These occupations do not reflect the full list of occupation identified in the IBSA environmental scan. DEEWR has indicated that it will update the priority occupations listing from time-to-time.
The Productivity Places Program is being administered by DEEWR and will be implemented in two stages.
Stage 1: job seekers - effective 1 April 2008
Stage 2: existing workers - to be activated on 1 July 2008.
There are two categories of job seekers; those who are registered with an employment service provider (ESP) and those who are not registered with an ESP. Examples of an ESP include Job Network and Disability Employment Network agencies.
Registered job seekers may be placed into the program with an approved RTO by the ESP.
Job seekers who are not registered with an ESP may approach an approved RTO. The RTO will assess the job seeker’s eligibility and, if eligible, place them into the program.
From 1 April to 30 June 2008, 20,000 Productivity Places Program training places will be made available for job seekers. 15,000 training places will be available at the Certificate II level and 5,000 at the Certificate III level. These places will be available to address all occupations listed on the 1 April to 30 June 2008 listing.
Information regarding the allocation of training places and the processes for participating in the existing worker component of the Productivity Places Program will be released shortly.
In February 2008, based upon some initial research undertaken in the development of the environmental scan, IBSA provided DEEWR with advice for the priority occupations for the April 1 to 30 June 2008 listing. Additional data was collected and validated by IBSA for the environmental scan which was submitted to DEEWR in mid-March 2008. For further details regarding IBSA’s environmental scan go to http://www.ibsa.org.au/content/latestnews/Escan2008.html.
IBSA will continue to update its environmental scan to better inform the development of the priority occupations’ listing for 1 July to 31 December 2008. This list will be prepared by DEEWR and Skills Australia to allocate training places for all eligible groups within the Productivity Places Program.
An Industry Skills Council, IBSA is an industry driven, independent not-for-profit organisation governed by an industry board reflective of its coverage. IBSA is responsible for the development of Training Packages and providing industry intelligence to the Australian Government and the vocational education and training sector. IBSA has been identified as a key organisation in determining industry training needs.
In a strengthened role, IBSA will:
- provide industry intelligence to Skills Australia
- provide independent skills and training advice to
enterprises
- support the development, implementation and
continuous improvement of high quality training and workforce development
products and services
- work with enterprises, Employment Services Providers and RTOs to ensure that individual and enterprise training needs are matched to appropriate training.
