The Challenge of Measurement: Statistics for Planning Human Resource Development. Conference Paper

This presentation was made to a breakout session at the 2011 Skills Australia and Industry Skills Councils joint conference, "Putting Skills at the Heart of Economy". The paper addresses the challenge of measurement in workforce development planning and discusses the role of the various players in the labour and training markets--individuals, employers, providers, regulators, governments and industry bodies--and the information they need to make optimal decisions. One issue is the extent to which markets should be left to operate freely, noting that the data required by central planners to second-guess the market are particularly onerous. It is emphasised, however, that markets need ample information to function effectively. The presentation's overall assessment is that data in Australia are not too bad, although the lack of a complete collection (covering both private and public) of vocational education and training (VET) activity is an obvious deficiency. There is also lack of data about the VET workforce (which regulators have a particular interest in) and data on job vacancies are limited. Provider-level performance data have also not been published to date. (Contains 3 tables and 1 footnote.)