WA needs half million more workers in a decade

Western Australia will need up to 400,000 additional workers over the next decade to sustain its resources boom, according to a report from the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

The state will not have the capacity to sustain the economic boom and fulfil its long term potential unless state and federal governments move without delay to improve the labour supply outlook, the CCI said after the release of their report.

WA’s workforce currently numbers 1.1 million after increasing by 200,000 over the past six years.

The workforce will increase naturally over the next decade, but CCI said if nothing is done to boost employment numbers the state will be 150,000 workers short in 10 years time.

CCI chief executive John Langoulant said there was no time to lose in attracting more workers.

“On current projections, the state would not have the workforce needed to service the $100 billion investment in the pipeline for WA,” he said.

“Currently there are simply not enough people to go around, and our modelling shows this is not going to change. In fact, it’s likely to get worse.”