The Minns Labor Government has launched the NSW Skills Plan, the first NSW skills plan since 2008.

This ambitious blueprint will help guide the transformation of vocational education and training (VET) while tackling pressing skills gaps in industries such as manufacturing, renewable energy, construction, and care and support – sectors vital to NSW’s future.

With job vacancies in NSW’s critical skills areas such as construction, caring industries and advanced manufacturing at 175,000 in the year to October 2024, this Plan will help focus efforts in the vocational sector, building the workforce needed to deliver on government priorities and supporting essential services in our community.

The Plan works together with a new State Migration Plan, which will attract skilled workers from overseas to address shortages while driving NSW’s economic growth.

With 44 per cent of occupations in NSW facing shortages, the Plan focuses on:

• Priority skills – directing funding and training to areas with the highest demand.
• Local skills – ensuring local communities have a say with a new regional planning model to meet local needs.
• Skills for young people – giving school students and young people opportunities and pathways to local jobs.

The NSW Skills Plan aligns with national priorities under the Albanese Government’s National Skills Agreement, addressing Closing the Gap, Net Zero transformation and VET qualification reforms.

Key initiatives to be developed under the plan include:

• A new regional skills planning and governance model to address the severe skills and labour shortages in regional and remote areas.
• An annual State of the System Report to monitor system performance and the progress of the NSW Skills Plan.

Building on the findings of the NSW VET Review, the Plan outlines actions such as boosting recruitment of skilled workers, enhancing teacher capacity in high-demand fields like STEM, and modernising TAFE NSW to ensure it remains at the heart of the VET sector, a key Minns Labor Government election commitment.

By fostering partnerships between industry, schools, and training organisations, the NSW Skills Plan will build a flexible, high-quality VET system to secure the workforce NSW needs now and into the future.

The Skills Plan is one part of the staged response to the VET review and can be viewed here.

Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education Steve Whan said:

“This plan is a game changer for the state's vocational education and training sector. It is about ensuring our workforce has the skills needed to drive NSW’s future prosperity and address the critical shortages we face across key industries.

“Over 12 years the former Liberal-National Government failed to have a Skills plan for New South Wales.

“As we all know ‘a failure to plan means planning to fail’ and that’s exactly what the Liberals and Nationals did – leaving NSW with massive skills shortages contributing to the current housing crisis, and massive workforce shortages for health, aged care and the energy transition.

“The NSW Skills Plan demonstrates the Minns Labor Government is taking the Skills challenges seriously. We are committed to strengthening the role of TAFE and other training providers to deliver industry-led, high-quality education and is picking up the pieces after more than 12 years of neglect from the former Liberal National Government.

“This is a bold, forward-thinking agenda that addresses today’s challenges while building the skilled workforce we need for the future of NSW.”