Govt industry training investment crucial
One model in new study finds public industry training funds cut would result in GDP loss of 6% by 2021.
Friday, December 16 2011 || News || BY Catherine Harris, Businessday.co.nz
The study by Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL) sets out to quantify the costs and benefits of industry training both to businesses and to the country.
According to one model, it found a cut in all public funding towards industry training would result in a loss in gross domestic product of 0.6 to 1.8 per cent by 2014, and between between 2.9 and 6 per cent by 2021.
That equated to a loss of between $1.2b and $3.7b annually in the short-term, and between $7.2b and $15.1b in the long term.
BERL said under such a scenario, the loss of skilled labour would have a detrimental effect on the export sector, crimping its capacity and reducing its competitiveness as industries competed for a smaller pool of talent.
The report, commissioned by the Industry Training Federation, said the results underlined how the country's skill levels could ''positively impact on the quality and value of the goods and services produced, and the standard of living in New Zealand''.
However, it also noted the economy was complex and warned that ''any attempts to prioritise or isolate particular industries, sectors, occupations or skills as being more or less important are economically unsound''.
