Australia

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/a-lot-to-learn-about-education/2006/08/22/1156012539514.html

WHEN Brendan Nelson was minister for education, he would tell the story of a woman waiting at a bus stop outside a Queensland university who told him she didn't see why her tax dollars should be spent to subsidise the education of the students inside.

Presumably the story was allegorical, but his message was clear: education should be user-pays.

Yet education is one of the most important investments a country can make in the wellbeing of its citizens and long-term economic prosperity. The students benefit by preparing for better-paid, more interesting, more secure jobs.

The nation benefits, too. When the supply of skilled and qualified workers decreases it becomes difficult to get the services we need, and we pay more for them. Australia is in the grip of a skills crisis. It is fuelling inflation, putting upward pressure on interest rates. If we don't invest in education, we all suffer.

Unfortunately, Australian investment in education has been declining at a time when comparable nations are increasing theirs. Australia is the only OECD country to cut public investment in universities and TAFE. Since 1995 spending has fallen by 8 per cent. In contrast, the average increase in OECD countries is 38 per cent.

When asked in Parliament why the number of students completing year 12 then going to TAFE or university fell by 10 per cent between 2000 and 2004, the Prime Minister said it was because they were going out and getting jobs - nothing to worry about.

He missed two critical points. First, teenage unemployment is still about 20 per cent and as high as 40 per cent in some areas. Second, we need to fix the skills crisis. Unless school leavers undertake training, they are not going to make the economic contribution to their family income or the nation's wealth they are capable of.

Any job is better than no job but a secure, skilled job is best of all.

The Reserve Bank has been warning since 2000 of the inflationary pressures coming from skills shortages.

BIS Shrapnel's chief economist warned recently that "the real, enduring problem is going to be the shortage of skilled labour". The Australian Industry Group's Heather Ridout has pointed out that 175,000 people are going to leave traditional trades over the next five years and only 70,000 are going to enter them.

The Government has massively increased skilled migration. Such a program will always be necessary and welcome, but it shouldn't become a substitute for training Australians. We need to give young Australians a secure future, and we should stop depriving poorer countries of the skilled workers they have invested slender education budgets to train.