The shortage of information and communications technology workers will put extra pressure on the government to allow skilled migration.
New figures from the Australian Public Service Commission reveal that even though the number of federal public servants has reached a new high, the No 1 area of skills shortages was for technology.
According to the latest State of the Service Report, 36 agencies reported having a moderate or severe shortage of staff in ICT, compared with 25 reporting such shortages for accounting and finance staff.
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull seized on the situation yesterday.
"It's one thing to have a digital economy strategy that trumpets your existing policies, but Labor has not done enough to promote education and skills capabilities in the public sector and the economy in general," Mr Turnbull said.
Marcus Bowles, a senior researcher at the University of Tasmania who has written reports on the issue for the government-funded Innovation & Business Skills Australia, said the problem was that there was inadequate data on ICT staff.
"It's a symptom of the whole economy," he said of the skills shortage.
"As we see the digital economy ramp up, we will see far more shortages as people . . . can't get anyone to do it."
But a spokeswoman for Skills Minister Chris Evans insisted the shortage in the public service should not be described as acute.
"The government is working in collaboration with the ICT industry and tertiary educators to tackle the challenges of developing, attracting and retaining ICT skills in the national workforce," the spokeswoman said.
"Key priorities for the government will be strengthening ICT curriculum and building on successful initiatives and collaborations already under way between the tertiary sector and industry to promote student enrolments and create training opportunities for existing workers.
"Developing a pipeline of highly skilled ICT workers will continue to fuel growth in the digital economy."
The State of the Service Report, tabled last week, states that the shortages in the public sector are reflected in the broader labour market, with ICT skills on the eligible list for skilled migrants.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Annabel Hepworth and Mitchell Bingemann
Quelle/Source: The Australian, 06.12.2012
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