Australia – Recruiters say fears of robots taking jobs are contributing to a skills shortage in Western Australia (ABC News)

Recruiters in Australia say that misunderstood reports of automation killing off jobs are contributing to a new skills shortage in the state of Western Australia, reports ABC News. “Automation as a whole is really misunderstood,” Chris Kent, state regional director for Western Australia, at recruitment firm Hays, said. “There’s been some scary reports about what jobs will be automated but the reality is it is tasks that are automated. There are very few jobs that are automated, very few jobs are fully automatable.” Jobs such as heavy mobile maintenance workers, truck operators, drillers and boilermakers are just a few of the trades currently in high demand and Kent said younger workers appear to view manual jobs as occupations with a limited future. Kent adds that companies in the mining industry do have the capacity to automate jobs which is “scaring off key roles, key workforce participants,” but he cautions that not all of them will become automated. Jim Walker, chairman of WA’s State Training Board, said that while those within the training and trade industries understand how automation is being integrated in the workforce, he agrees the general public, and particularly students, are less informed.

Source:: http://www2.staffingindustry.com/row/Editorial/Daily-News/Australia-Recruiters-say-fears-of-robots-taking-jobs-are-contributing-to-a-skills-shortage-in-Western-Australia-ABC-News-46650