A round-up of the major labour market issues affecting air conditioning and refrigeration technicians in each state and territory across Australia will be published next month.
The special three page report appears in the April edition of Climate Control News (CCN) magazine.
It draws on a broad range of labour market data including a five year assessment of Australia's job market released by the federal government.
The publication, Aussie Jobs, also provides an analysis of employment changes over the last five years, as well as projected industry jobs growth through to the 2016/17 financial year.
Launching Aussie Jobs, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Bill Shorten said employment had increased by more than 837,000 over the five years to November 2012.
"More than 450 jobs have been created every day since November 2007, and more Australians are in work than ever before, with employment above 11.5 million," Shorten said.
The number of working age Australians with Certificate III qualifications or above stands at 7,845,100 (52.9 per cent).
However, there continues to be a critical shortage for air conditioning and refrigeration technicians across Australia, a problem that has persisted since 2008.
Employers have identified a number of areas that need to be addressed to improve skill levels and to meet market demands.
This article provides a preview of the special job report. However, to access the full article readers need to refer to CCN magazine (April, 2013) which will be available early next month.
Each state and territory is tackling a different problem. For example, in Queensland there is an acute shortage of technicians in regional areas.
In fact little has changed since the last update in 2009. On average it takes employers up to four weeks to fill a vacancy.
A number of employers described recruitment difficulties for tradespeople with specialised experience including commercial refrigeration and combined air conditioning and refrigeration servicing.
Some contacts said many applicants were only experienced with installation and were not completely competent in the service aspect of the trade.
In NSW there is also a problem sourcing specific skill sets. Employers who advertised for air conditioning and refrigeration technicians found that 47 per cent of positions were filled within four weeks of advertising. This is lower than the 56 per cent result in 2010.
Overall, there was an average of one suitable applicant per vacancy, and more than half of employers couldn't fill vacancies.
Unfilled vacancies were distributed across various suburbs of Sydney and regional locations.
The most frequently cited reason for the unsuitability of applicants was that they were formally qualified but had inadequate trade skills or their experience was inappropriate (for example, installing domestic air conditioning rather than servicing commercial and industrial air conditioning and refrigeration).
In the ACT, there was no labour shortage, employers were generally surprised at the ease with which they recruited staff.
Employers filled all vacancies, a significant increase compared with 2010 when only 45 per cent of positions were filled. There were four applicants per vacancy, although some survey respondents
admitted they compromised on desired experience or qualifications.
Shortages were persistent in the ACT prior to 2011. The most frequently cited reasons for applicants not being suitable were lack of experience, qualifications and licences as well as poor communication skills.
Also, the labour market for technicians in the ACT is small and employers often rely on interstate applicants to fill positions.
Vacancies in Victoria remained difficult to fill, with less than one suitable applicant per vacancy, according to the report.
The majority of employers said there was a shortage of qualified and experienced workers in this field. In addition to a lack of qualifications generally, employers said some applicants were qualified but lacked experience in particular areas, especially when it came to industry-specific brands of machinery.
After years of labour shortages for the trade in Tasmania, the situation has eased since 2011, the report found.
The available pool of skilled tradespeople appears to be meeting demand, although employers and industry groups have expressed concern that shortages may reoccur in the next 12 months.
There were no vacancies in the lead up to compiling this report a year ago. Employers suggested the low number of apprentices undertaking training in the sector is due to the inability of employers, most of whom are small business operators, to incur the costs associated with training apprentices.
A downturn in construction activity also released a greater pool of tradespeople into the labour market.
While the job shortage situation has improved in South Australia, the main concern was around sourcing specific skills in relation to refrigeration systems. This problem was evident in recruitment figures. On average there were around three suitable applicants per vacancy, compared to five in 2010.
All of the employers surveyed were seeking workers with experience in either service and/or installation of refrigeration systems, rather than air conditioning. Employers noted that it took significantly longer to acquire refrigeration skills due to the complexity of the systems involved.
In Western Australia the labour market for technicians has fluctuated over the past five years with recent research showing employers are having less difficulty recruiting. This is due to a softening of demand in the construction sector.
ABS figures show that the trend estimate for total number of residential building approvals in WA fell by 9.6 per cent over the 2010/11 financial year, at an average of 1.1 per cent per month.
Non-residential building approvals fell by 8.6 per cent, or 1.9 per cent per month. Survey respondents filled advertised vacancies within four weeks, higher than the proportion of vacancies filled in 2010, which was 55 per cent.
Shortages of technicians in the Territory have been persistent for most of the past decade. In 2009 shortages eased but returned in 2010 with the situation worsening in 2011.
Recruitment difficulties are more apparent in regional areas. Shortages are largely driven by a lack of affordable housing, a transient population and competition with the mining industry.
Overall, 43 per cent of positions were filled within four weeks of advertising, unchanged since 2010.
Staff turnover is high in the NT industry, with 71 per cent of vacancies due to staff turnover.
Employers said demand for the trade in the mining industry made it difficult to compete with wages offered by the mines, particularly in regional areas.
A more detailed report is available in the April edition of CCN Magazine.