The Productivity Commission has proposed targeted financial incentives to increase work-related training in the small business sector.
The incentives are in addition to the introduction of advisory services to support training uptake.
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) welcomed the Productivity Commission’s (PC) recommendations.
COSBOA chair Matthew Addison said incentives aimed at lowering the financial barriers to employee education would be a key enabler to growth.
“While small businesses offer non-formal learning opportunities every day, formalised training can be expensive and time consuming, and for small businesses that can be very hard to absorb,” Addison said.
“Targeted, incentivised work-related training would not only allow employers to offer the right education opportunities to staff, it would also support innovation, increase specialised skills and improve small business service offerings.”
Addison said the PC’s recommendation to support the uptake of incentivised work-related training via tailored advisory services was commendable, providing a one-stop shop for information dissemination and sharing.
Another recommendation in the interim report is to streamline qualification requirements across Australian jurisdictions.
Due to the skills shortage, many businesses are forced to search far and wide for suitable employees.
“Currently, across a range of professions, there are excessive occupational entry requirements,” Addison said.
“Mutual recognition of qualifications from state-to-state would help fill skilled job vacancies and enable small businesses to hire where and when they need.”
The report, Building a skilled and adaptable workforce, is the fourth of five inquiries into productivity that present practical reforms to get Australia back on the path to growth.
COSBOA represents over 1.3 million small businesses across Australia.