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Kultur Dokumente
31 March 2010
Contact: Andre Kaspura Policy Analyst, International & National Policy, Engineers Australia 11 National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 Tel: 02 6270 6581 Fax: 02 6273 4200 Email: akaspura@engineersaustralia.org.au www.engineersaustralia.org.au
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The relationships described above define the complementarity between the three levels of the engineering team. Engineers Australia believes that this complementarity is the key to optimising productivity in the delivery of engineering services. This is especially important when there are engineering skills shortages. Deploying inappropriate engineering skills and competencies does not make the best use of the skills available and so can intensify the impacts of skills shortages. Engineers Australia believes that the most appropriate way to proceed is to investigate the availability of skills and competencies at all levels of the engineering team and to instigate corrective policies to bring forward a balanced team.
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TABLE 1 THE POTENTIAL FLOW OF NEW GRADUATES TO THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION MEN POTENTIAL FLOW TO Engineering Officer (University) Engineering Officer (TAFE) Engineering Technologist Professional Engineers Total 2002 176 2810 473 4098 7557 2003 141 2850 449 4224 7664 2004 115 2905 441 4398 7859 2005 134 2898 583 4016 7631 2006 106 2961 679 4252 7998 2007 213 3070 475 4324 8082 2008 269 2968 472 4574 8283
WOMEN Engineering Officer (University) 10 Engineering Officer (TAFE) 405 Engineering Technologist 77 Professional Engineers 847 Total 1339
ALL DOMESTIC ENTRY LEVEL GRADUATES Engineering Officer (University) 186 156 124 Engineering Officer (TAFE) 3205 3300 3165 Engineering Technologist 550 523 517 Professional Engineers 4945 5103 5255 TOTAL 8886 9082 9061 Source: Statistics supplied by DEEWR and NCVER
Unemployment Among Engineers Unemployment rates measure the prevailing balance between the demand for labour and its supply. Unemployment rates among qualified engineers in Australia have been considerably lower than in the labour force as a whole indicating that the demand for engineers is much stronger than the demand for labour in general and the supply of engineers is much weaker than the supply of labour in general. Direct time series statistics on the labour market for engineers can be obtained from the ABS Labour Force Survey. This survey was designed to assist responses to macroeconomic policy questions and has been demonstrably successful for this purpose. But the Labour Force Survey was not designed to provide statistics for microeconomic analyses addressing policy in respect to specific occupations. Statistics at this level are fraught with standard error problems and meaningless for practical purposes. A much better alternative is to use 2006 Population Census statistics to set a comparative benchmark that can be complemented by other statistics to allow sensible judgments about the situation. Table 2 shows the unemployment rates for degree and diploma qualified engineers in
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Australia in 2006. No distinction can be drawn between Professional Engineers and Engineering Technologists because the ABS defines a Bachelors degree to have duration between 3 and 6 years full time equivalence. Thus the Table is confined to the distinction between degree qualified and diploma qualified engineers. The latter includes Associate degrees and advanced diplomas.
TABLE 2 UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION SPECIALISATIONS IN 2006 SPECIALISATION DEGREE QUALIFIED 2.53 4.42 4.66 3.11 1.79 3.05 3.95 4.92 0.00 3.13 5.10 4.76 3.67 2.66 0.00 0.00 3.72 2.36 0.00 2.46 3.05 4.06 4.32 6.49 5.61 2.18 0.00 3.09 .. 5.43 3.33 3.76 4.60 4.64 2.97 DIPLOMA QUALIFIED 2.64 4.77 5.42 6.58 1.65 2.37 3.21 2.17 5.50 2.88 3.37 4.49 0.00 3.34 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.34 2.48 3.34 7.26 3.54 2.93 2.37 2.31 2.85 0.71 2.27 3.67 6.12 0.00 1.24 2.92 ALL QUALIFICATIONS 2.56 4.52 5.29 3.29 1.75 2.85 3.56 2.66 5.45 3.02 4.52 4.50 3.67 2.92 0.00 0.00 3.72 2.36 0.00 2.43 2.85 3.74 4.84 5.05 3.59 2.22 2.31 2.91 1.21 2.93 3.60 3.86 4.28 2.44 2.95 LABOUR FORCE 106,148 1616 4030 5829 3877 4384 3621 338 220 18573 1218 844 381 1334 22 72 215 127 16 20336 17484 7110 3860 5547 21397 1618 1428 8843 580 1501 3582 1087 421 2130 249,789
Engineering & Related Technologies NFD Manufacturing Engineering Rest of Manufacturing Engineering Chemical Engineering Mining Engineering Materials Engineering Rest of Process & Resource Engineering Automotive Engineering Rest of Automotive Engineering Mechanical Engineering Industrial Engineering Rest of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Construction Engineering Structural Engineering Building Services Engineering Water & Sanitary Engineering Transport Engineering Geotechnical Engineering Ocean Engineering Rest of Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Electronic Engineering Computer Engineering Communications Technologies Rest of Electrical & Electronic Engineering Aerospace Engineering Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Aircraft Operations Rest of Aerospace Engineering Maritime Engineering Rest of Maritime Engineering Environmental Engineering Biomedical Engineering Rest of Other Engineering ALL SPECIALISATIONS Source: ABS, 2006 Population Census Tablebuilder
Estimates are shown for all major engineering specialisations. The statistics in Table 2 are also classified using the ASCED system because the deployment of skills throughout the economy is better reflected by an education based system than an occupation system. A more practical reason is that educational qualifications held do not necessarily line up with an individuals occupation or occupational status. By definition an individual in an occupation is employed so that unemployment cannot be measured this way. When the 2006 Population Census was conducted the unemployment rate for the Australian labour force was 5.24%. In Table 2, groups of engineers that have unemployment rates at or above this rate are highlighted in yellow.
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Table 2 demonstrates several important issues: Only 3 groups of degree qualified engineers (Communications Technologies, Rest of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Maritime Engineering) had unemployment rates at or above the national rate. Only 5 groups of diploma qualified engineers (Rest of Manufacturing Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Rest of Automotive Engineering, Computer Engineering and Environmental Engineering) had unemployment rates at or above the national unemployment rate. With the exception of one group, Engineering and Related Technologies not further defined, most engineering specialisations are comprised of relatively small stocks of individuals. Even relatively large groups (such as Mechanical Engineering with 18,573; the main body of Civil Engineering with 20,336 and Electrical Engineering with 17,484) are small when compared to the labour market at large. Key groups of engineers have exceptionally low unemployment rates including Mining Engineering with 1.75%; Mechanical Engineering with 3.02%;(Rest of) Civil Engineering with 2.43%; Electrical Engineering with 2.85%; Electronic Engineering with 3.74%; Materials Engineering with 2.85% and many other groups with similar unemployment rates. This result applies to both degree qualified and to diploma qualified engineers. In many cases the unemployment rates for diploma qualified engineers is lower than for degree qualified engineers including Mining Engineering (1.65% compared to 1.79%); Materials Engineering (2.37% compared to 3.05%); Mechanical Engineering (2.88% compared to 3.13%); Civil Engineering (2.34% compared to 2.46%); Electrical Engineering (2.48% compared to 3.05%) and Electronic Engineering (3.34% compared to 4.32%). Since the Census there has been very strong demand for engineers and these unemployment rates will have fallen. Although the global financial crisis has interupted economic growth in Australia, strong continuing growth in engineering construction, the infrastructure projects announced by State, Territory and Federal governments and new coal, gas and iron ore project announcements point to a resumption of the strong demand for engineers. What is important is that there are no anecdotal reports of unemployed engineers despite the record skilled migration intake of engineers in 2008-09. Skilled Migration of Engineers Australias migration intake of engineers has shown exceptional growth during the past 9 years. Table 3 shows that engineers have come to Australia under both permanent and temporary visa classes. The statistics in the Table are classified according to the now outdated Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) and are intended to reflect labour market destinations rather than just educational background. There are important limitations to these statistics. The statistics relate to degree qualified engineers only. Work is in hand to obtain similar statistics for diploma qualified engineers but this is not available yet. Nor are statistics for the engineering occupations in the Managerial occupations groups available at present. Never-theless, Table 3 is sufficient to compare the magnitude of the migration intake to domestic graduations and to the stocks shown in Table 2.
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TABLE 3 IMMIGRATION OF ENGINEERS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 1240 31 1271 0 0 2001-02 1140 271 1411 0 0 2002-03 1447 451 1898 0 0 2003-04 1420 952 2372 1250 3622 2004-05 1732 1800 3532 1810 5342 2005-06 2312 1629 3941 2970 6911 2006-07 1980 2140 4120 3510 7630 2007-08 2503 1909 4412 4580 8992 2008-09 2746 2458 5204 4210 9414 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
In 2008-09, when the global economic crisis was at its height, Australia accepted 5,204 engineers as permanent migrants. This compares to 5,914 new domestic degree qualified graduates in 2008. In addition another 4,210 migrant engineers were admitted on temporary 457 visas. These outcomes provides a measure of the demand for engineers not satisfied by the potential supply of graduates. Assuming that 2008 graduates all enter the labour market in 2008-09, domestic graduations comprise 38.6% of new engineers in the Australian labour market that year. All key engineering specialisations were represented among the permanent migration intake. In 2008-09, Civil Engineers were 23.2% of the intake; Electrical and Electronic Engineers were 24.3% of the intake; Mechanical and Production Engineers were 20.8%; Mining and Materials Engineers were 7.8%; Engineering Technologists were 7.4% and Other Engineers, including Chemical Engineers were 9.1% of the intake. When these statistics are compared to the stock statistics for the engineering education specialisations in Table 2, the significance of Australias dependence on migration for its engineers is highlighted. In the Governments recently announced changes to skilled migration arrangements, temporary migration is seen as an important component of how migration is expected to deal with cyclical excess demand in conjunction with employer nominations and State/Territory sponsorship under permanent migration. As expected temporary migration of engineers fell in 2008-09 compared to 2007-08, reflecting the economic uncertainties of the time. What is surprising is that the fall was just 8.1% and the temporary intake of engineers, 4,210, was higher than in any other previous year with the exception of 2007-08. Survey Evidence Since 2006 Engineers Australia has included a number of questions on engineering skills shortages experienced in the preceding 12 months in its annual survey of engineering salaries. The survey is aimed at business entities, both private and public sector, that employ large numbers of engineers. The results of the survey are consistent with the evidence discussed above. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 over 70% of business entities experienced significant problems in recruiting
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engineers. In 2009, despite the global financial crisis, 53% of respondents still experienced these difficulties. The survey considers actions taken by businesses to deal with the shortages and the consequences of engineering shortages. Details can be made available.
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ANZSCO 3125 Mechanical Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians ANZSCO 312912 Metallurgical or Materials Technicians
This proposal is consistent with the statistical arguments presented in this Submission and Engineers Australias views on how to maximise productivity from the engineering team. Table 2 demonstrates that not all engineering specialisations were in short supply in the 2006 Population Census. The Table demonstrates the importance of definitive information at the appropriate level of disaggregation. For Example when Manufacturing Engineering and Technology is considered as a whole the unemployment rate that is produced is close to the rate for the labour force as a whole. But when disaggregated to focus on specialist Manufacturing Engineering shortages are evident. In recent years there have been important changes in the degree groups highlighted in Table 2. The number of degree graduates in Electrical and Electronic Engineering has fallen sharply from 1,727 in 2001 to 1,076 in 2008. This group includes the Rest of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Communications Technology. If this trend continues then the circumstances of these groups may change, particularly as the roll out of the National Broadband Network proceeds. Similarly, there have been changes in Maritime Engineering education including the incorporation of the Launceston Australian Maritime School into the University of Tasmania. The implications of this change will need to be worked through. However TAFE graduations in Manufacturing Engineering have remained relatively high. This, together with the concentration of these courses in some jurisdictions, is an issue that requires attention. There is a similar issue in respect of TAFE graduations of chemical engineers and automotive engineers. Finally, the largest group of TAFE graduates is in Electrical and Electronic Engineering which accounts for about one third of TAFE engineering graduates. This group includes diploma level electrical and electronic engineers who are in short supply and communications technologies who are in over-supply. Engineers Australia has little confidence in DEEWR skilled vacancies surveys. These statistics are not an adequate substitute for ABS statistics. Surveying skilled vacancies cannot provide statistics about the labour market status of engineers. Statistics on skilled vacancies reflect the churn that occurs in the labour market as well as genuine unfilled vacancies. There are also other problems with the surveys relating to data collection and occupational coverage. Engineers Australia believes in evidence based policy design. In skills development and migration, statistics to support analyses are fragmented and often based on different classification systems. Engineers Australia believes strongly that the present statistical base for migration policy requires serious development to increase the level of objectivity possible.
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