Business Skills Victoria
www.bsv.org.au
Anna Henderson
April 2009
03 93294777
ahenderson@bsv.org.au
Broad Trends
Property and Business Services is Australia’s second largest
employing industry and it has experienced strong employment
growth over the past 5 years. It is a diverse industry, including
activities such as real estate, legal services, scientific research and
equipment leasing.
Over the past five years 182,000 new jobs have been created,
mainly driven by Business Services, particularly Technical Services
(50,000 new jobs) and Marketing and Business Management
(41,600). Employment growth is expected to remain strong over the
next five years with 157,000 new jobs projected, a growth rate of
2.4 percent per annum.
Source: Australian Jobs 2008,
Economic Trends
Dr Chris Richardson, Access Economics predicted that the global
economic influences are increasing the wealth and complexity of our
society. This has created a greater reliance of accountants, lawyers,
IT consultants, marketers and advertisers – the groups which
dominate Property and Business Services.
There has been a 135 percent job growth in Property and Business
Services between 1985 and 2004.
Dr Chris Richardson, predicted a further 32 percent job growth in
Property and Business Services over the next 30 years, however
recently he noted that Australia may be moving into recession
because of the global financial crisis.
Skill Shortages and Future skill requirements
A TAFE study described ‘skill shortage’ as the following
four varying identifiers:
1.Skill shortages due to insufficient workers being trained.
2.Skill shortages as a result of people choosing to work in
occupations other than that for which they have been
trained.
3.Skill gaps, defined as the difference between the skill
level of existing workers and the skill level required by
industry.
4.Future skills requirements.
Source: Skill Shortages and future skill requirements for the labout force in Victoria.
Report prepared by RMIT University , Kangan Batman TAFE, Box Hill Institute and
Chisholm Institute 2008
Emerging trends in Business Services :
•More inputs will be required from knowledgeintensified business services (KIBS) in product design
and development, risk management, financial services
and insurance and in other business services.
•By 2015 it is expected that professional, managers and
associate professionals will account for one third of all
jobs compared to one quarter in 2000.
•Source: Report prepared by RMIT University , Kangan Batman TAFE, Box Hill Institute and
Chisholm Institute 2008
Industry Change Drivers
 Globalisation – Global
Financial crisis
 Ageing population
 Sustainability
Global Financial Crisis
What does this mean for
Business Services?
•Shedding of middle-management roles and
support functions. Management had been
identified as a skill shortage area.
•Some businesses services could experience
increased demand with cost-cutting strategies
resulting in increased outsourcing.
•Training in business services provides skills
that are needed in many job roles across the
economy, business service skills, used across all
industries are likely to remain in relatively
strong demand. Need to train in periods of
recession to overcome future skill shortages.
Ageing population
What does this mean for
Business Services?
[1
•The ageing of the labour force is expected to lead
to strong replacement demand in a range of
occupations.
•Many workers are continuing to work past
retirement age. This enables organisations to retain
capable, experienced staff but it also presents
challenges in managing an older workforce.
Replacement demand in areas such as business
administration and business management will be
very high once the recession subsides.
•Source: Boston consulting group 2008
Sustainability
What is it about?
‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’
Source: Our Common Future, World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland
Commission) 1987.
Enough – for all forever
Source: African Delegate to Johannesburg (Rio+10) - 2002
Environmental Sustainability
What does this mean for
Business Services?
•In a McKinsey global survey consumers say that
corporations performance in addressing the problems
of the environment and climate change affects not
only how much they trust the company but also
whether they would buy its products
•Australia is to cut carbon emissions from 2000
levels by between 5 to 15 percent by 2020.
Measurement of actual emissions is costly and time
consuming. Industry will have to develop tools to
measure actual emissions. Changes in the way we
work will be required.
Future Vision
‘However good our future research may be, we
shall never be able to escape from the ultimate
dilemma that all our knowledge is about the past
and all our decisions are about the future’
Ian Wilson General Electric
Skill Shortages in Area of Study
•Generic business skills and business administrative officers.
•Finance, accounting and business services.
•Integration of sustainability skills in all aspects of business
practice.
Global financial crisis strategy: train our way
out of the recession.