A pre-pandemic skills shortage in logistics and supply chains has deepened over the past two years amid closed borders and rising challenges.
Industry has called for an immediate increase in the number of skilled migrant visas, including for those who work in freight and logistics, and specific investments in skills, training and data management to enable the $140bn industry to meet the growing demand.
Australian Industry Standards chief executive Paul Walsh says logistics, warehousing, supply chain and transport jobs are all in high demand. “We’ve had labour shortages for many years but the current shortage right across the economy is really driving it even further,” he says.
Industry research has identified a “two-speed crisis” unfolding, with immediate job vacancies as well as long-term structural issues. Seek has more than 22,000 advertisements for logistics roles. There are also 21,500 truck driver positions, which is equivalent to more than 12 per cent of the current workforce.
The Australian Logistics Council has declared an immediate need for job-ready workers as well as an “unsustainable deficit of skilled labour and training in the freight and logistics supply chain, across many areas including driving, warehousing, stevedoring, data and cyber security”.
The issue is not contained to Australia, however. A report released by international logistics giant DHL, The Supply Chain Talent Shortage, says in some countries one in three workers was at or beyond retirement age, and 46 per cent of respondents found it hard to recruit middle management.
CEO of US BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting Jake Barr says: “For every graduate with supply chain skills, there are six holes to be filled and it could be as high as nine to one in the future.”
Here, the Australian Industry Standards Industry Outlook found the average age of a logistics worker was 45.6 years old, while an equivalent trucking industry worker was 47 years and a train driver was 48 years.
“Skilled migration will be a short term assistance, but for the long term we see the need for ongoing investment in skills development, lifelong learning, and also training in digital transformation to make sure we can actually meet demand,” Walsh says.
“The baby boomers are getting out, and the next generation coming through are not replacing them in the same volumes. So we have a labour supply issue that is not going away. This is going to be with us for years to come.”
He says initiatives to assist included targeted funding for upskilling workers in digital transformation, improving perceptions of the industry and professionalising the sectors through apprenticeships, such as the recent truck driver apprenticeship program.
Australian Trucking Association Chair David Smith says the industry was becoming more professional, overturning its “stubbie shorts and singlets image”.
“There are no easy answers,” he says. “We’ve got to get serious about apprenticeships and targeting school leavers. We’ve got to lift our game and our image.”
The Australian Logistics Council chief executive Hermione Parsons says shortages are a very serious business issue, spanning all areas from operations to postgraduate roles.
She says local supply chains are not as efficient as they could be without skilled oversight from people with analytical, digital and operational experience, making them less cost-efficient.
“Everyone in every sector is competing for the same people,” she says. “We have too few people in all sorts of areas, from pick and pack, to driving, to distribution centres. And at the postgraduate level, we have great shortages.” She says universities need better cross-industry capability to educate future supply chain professionals.
Toll Group chief corporate affairs officer Zed Ivankovic says the “competition for talent” has increased significantly.
“Border closures which, up until now, have restricted talent from overseas, and a surge in consumer demand have pushed up salaries, intensifying competition for talent further,” Ivankovic says.
“We’re actively expanding our talent pool to attract diverse candidates, such as running the Toll Female Driver Academy, to provide a career pathway for women in logistics with training and career development. For several years now we have offered a global graduate program that gives professionals from diverse academic backgrounds a platform to develop their career in the logistics industry.”
ATRC is also working on their own program to grow the talent pool. Their Inland Rail Skills Academy, developed with the Australasian Railway Association, has conducted outreach to more than 6000 students about career opportunities and STEM skills.
Their foundation skills course, in regional centres Boggabilla, Narrabri and Moree, has upskilled 50 participants, with 29 achieving a Certificate II in civil construction.
“The Inland Rail Skills Academy continues to facilitate delivery of programs to support communities in being ready for employment and supply opportunities on the Inland Rail Project,” a spokesperson says.
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations spokesperson says a $1bn National Skills Agreement would support 180,000 fee-free TAFE places, commencing January 2023, in a joint initiative from the states and territories.
“The government is working collaboratively with states and territories on a new long-term National Skills Agreement to start in early 2024, guided by a vision statement and principles agreed by skills ministers and endorsed by national cabinet,” they say.
“A key principle is to provide critical and emerging industries at a national, state and local level with the skilled workers they need and to secure a domestic workforce to deliver on current and future priorities.
“The government has also committed to delivering a collaborative, tripartite VET system that brings all parties to the table to find solutions to skills and workforce challenges.
“This includes workforce planning, reviewing and updating VET qualifications, and supporting the delivery of training relevant to supply chain and logistics.”
Gender diversity brings many positive benefits
Getting more women into logistics and supply chain is considered an essential element to overcome Australia’s skills shortages.
About one in five workers in logistics is female due to historical physical demands and workplace cultures.
In 2018, the industry-backed Deakin University-led program Wayfinder: Supply Chain Careers for Women was started, to develop a pipeline to advance women into the industry.
Business Development manager Jennifer Jones says companies are keen to broaden their recruitment and women could thrive in the sectors.
“Supply chain is a communications business,” she says.
“It’s not just about the physical skills now, it’s technology driving all our supply chain innovation.
“Women have the skillset, particularly the ability to communicate and negotiate.”
The research-based program links industry and universities to develop effective training and programs that overcome structural barriers throughout the career cycle.
It also helps to create company-specific programs to attract and retain women, highlight high-achieving females in supply chain, and explain the diversity of roles in the industry.
“People can overly focus on it being all about women,” she says.
“It’s all about it being a workplace that is safe, happy and healthy for all. You can see the benefits [diversity] brings to those organisations.”
Their ambassador program also showcases women working in industry to overcome potential negative perceptions in the workplace.
“It’s about showing women who are doing the role and loving it, why they love it,” Jones says.
“It’s part of the awareness-building.
“Women can have the tools and resources to have a really strong career trajectory. And as for the structural barriers, we’re chipping away at it.”
Woolworths Group Queensland State Transport manager Sandra Corowa started as an order selector while at university and worked her way up to the role.
“The thing I like most about the job is the dynamic nature of it,” she told the ambassador program, citing problem-solving challenges such as chartering freight transport and overcoming weather impacts.