ERIC Number: ED413512
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1996-Oct
Pages: 47
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Is Australia Locked into a Low Skills/Low Quality Cycle? Working Paper No. 10.
Curtain, Richard
Primary and secondary data sources confirm that Australia is trapped in a low-skills/low-quality cycle. Among the factors that have contributed to this cycle are the following: the relatively small average size and low technology base of Australian firms and the relatively short-term planning horizon and underperformance of many Australian enterprises (compared with the planning and performance of their counterparts in the United States and New Zealand). The theory of a low skills equilibrium, which states that all major stakeholders in skill formation contribute to maintaining the low skills equilibrium, provides a broader-based explanation for Australia's problems regarding worker skills and quality. Five key stakeholder groups influence the nature of the demand for quantity and quality of skills: enterprises; groups of enterprises; the government; employer associations; and individuals and training providers. Specific measures that each stakeholder group can take to move Australia into a high-skills cycle have been identified. Unfortunately, because of Australia's continuing high levels of unemployment and the poor performance of Australia's other economic sectors, many Australian employers and the Australian government will likely remain under pressure to continue following an ad hoc, low-skill/low-quality approach to forming intermediate skills in Australia's economy. (Contains 51 references.) (MN)
Descriptors: Change Strategies, Competence, Economic Climate, Education Work Relationship, Educational Change, Educational Improvement, Educational Needs, Educational Quality, Employment Level, Employment Qualifications, Foreign Countries, Job Skills, Literature Reviews, Needs Assessment, Skill Development, Trend Analysis, Unemployment
Centre for the Economics of Education and Training, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia; phone: 03-9905-2808; fax: 03-9905-9184; e-mail: val.newson@education.monash.edu.au
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Australian National Training Authority, Brisbane.
Authoring Institution: Monash Univ., Clayton, Victoria (Australia). Centre for the Economics of Education and Training.
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A