Meeting the Training Needs of Operative Level Workers. Occasional Paper 95/4.

Clerks, salespersons, plant and machine operators and laborers, and related workers, defined as operative workers, currently form more than half the work force. They share the following characteristics: comparatively low earnings, limited qualifications, often employed in industries subject to economic restructuring and sensitive to economic cycles, and are subject to higher rates of labor mobility. Although already low skilled, they receive less training both through the publicly funded system and from their employers. Recent Australian and overseas research has found that improving the skills of operative level workers can benefit employers through enhanced efficiency and productivity and a more flexible work force. A retraining strategy that is integrated into the existing delivery of vocational education and training (VET) and meets the specific needs of the existing operative level work force is critical. This would require the following actions: identifying the type and level of training operative workers may require; emphasizing their needs during the profile process so maximum training opportunities can be provided through the public VET system; encouraging public providers and employers to provide more training; and flexible delivery. (Appendixes include state training profiles and the role of Australian state training agencies.) (YLB)