Thanks To Training, Paid Full-time Job Becomes A Labour Of Love

The Age

Friday April 18, 2008

Natalie Craig, Property Reporter

WHILE Melbourne developers complain about an acute shortage of construction workers, Brian Vo found it impossible to pin down a permanent job in the four years he has been in Australia.

"I could not find a way to get stable work," said Mr Vo, 35, from Vietnam. He is married and has a three-year-old daughter.

But after completing a new training program for labourers with the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Mr Vo now has a permanent, full-time position with a commercial developer and hopes to complete an apprenticeship in carpentry.

"Really, this is my dream work," he said. "I have more money and I can plan."

The Master Builders Association this week estimated Victoria would need 40,000 more skilled construction workers over the next five years. Mark Daniels, from the Brotherhood's community enterprise program, said Mr Vo was a shining example of labour waiting to be tapped.

"Importing labour is going to provide some of the solution, but if you've got tens of thousands of unemployed people in Melbourne who can work but for whatever reason have been excluded from the labour market, getting them back into work is the first priority," Mr Daniels said.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday showed that Australia's annual unemployment rate was only 4.4% in 2007. But the "underutilisation rate", which takes into account the underemployed, and which excludes people with disabilities or on parenting payments, was almost 9%.

Mr Vo, who two months ago was among an estimated 1.1 million "underutilised" Australians, completed a year of paid community work such as fencing, horticulture and construction before getting a job at Grocon's Media House development - to be the new home of The Age - at Docklands.

The Brotherhood and the White Lion group, which helps young people coming out of juvenile detention, have also placed trainees in full-time work with councils, developers and government.

Grocon chief executive Daniel Grollo said hiring people such as Mr Vo was no "magic bullet" for the skills shortage, but it had a positive impact on the work site.

"There is a lot more to it than simply getting more staff," Mr Grollo said. "The guys on the site get real enjoyment out of it.

"One of the (unemployed) guys has put his hand up to do an apprenticeship - which means a pay cut, but better opportunities in the long run. It takes tremendous maturity for a young man to do that. We can find some very good, confident people who are tremendously loyal."

© 2008 The Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home