New Jobs From Big Data

“The Community Colleges Australia New Work Mindset report is based on the analysis of  4.2 million job advertisements between 2012 and 2015.”

The above quote is from a report which may help to address some of the argument about what Commonwealth Budget 2017 means for community Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers. It identifies “7 new job clusters to help young people navigate the new work order”, with examples of early career occupations in each job cluster. The report also shows the formal training and technical skills that are most commonly requested by employers and gives advice on

• finding a job cluster that best matches a young person’s interests and strength
• Gaining early-career experience in a job cluster

Some job clusters require similar skills that are often portable across occupation, and the report advises on

• Some technical skills that are requested in multiple jobs within a cluster
• Key enterprise skills that appear across multiple jobs within a job cluster

The report gives further advice on some job clusters which have stronger future prospect, The final section, The New Mindset: Helping young people to navigate work now and in the future,  notes “it is clear that conversation about work needs to progress beyond the 1000+ occupations that comprise the economy”. With advice for young people, for employers and recruiters, for employers and recruiters, for educators, for policy-makers, for careers advisers, and for parents.

The Appendices, which include Exhibits, give details of

• Limitations of current skills information and reporting
• Detailed Methodologies for: Developing job clusters; Developing occupations of the future; Portability of  occupations

There is also a substantial Reference List of links.

Talking about job clusters and the question of new skills or more in-depth experience, this comes to a head in our latest QESP blog. See A Delicate Balance for a thought provoking one minute video which went viral on social media.

The CCA New Work Mindset is not the only report to suggest the need for a rethink on formal training and technical skills. A March 27 2017 Sydney Morning Herald report, Graduate teachers entering classrooms with inadequate ‘digital literacy‘, quotes NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes and references the Digital Literacy Skills and Learning Report from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

In Commonwealth Budget 2017: What does it mean for community VET providers?  Don Perlgut,  CCA CEO,  writes on May 10, 2017 that of greatest importance to the VET sector is the new “Skilling Australians Fund”. That post gives links to the press release from Ministers Birmingham and Andrews , and to Minister Andrews’ letter  to Dr Don Perlgut. There is also extract from a favourable press report by The Australian and a link to an unfavourable combined press release by the skills and training ministers from the state Labor Governments of Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.  “Turnbull’s Budget a Disappointment for Training and TAFE” calls for increased funding for a new National Partnership on Skilling Australians and a stable funding model for the sector, noting that “instead, Malcolm Turnbull has outlined a new deal without any consultation or guaranteed funding.”

The combined press release concludes:

“Training Ministers are due to meet with the Commonwealth in June, just weeks before the current agreement ends.

Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia want Malcolm Turnbull to urgently release more details before this meeting takes place.”