Cameron, Roslyn, Burgess, John, Archer, Ben, Millcock, Simon, and Graves, Peter (2023) Local Government Career Pathways and Workforce Toolkit for Regional SA. Report. Legatus Group, Mintaro, South Australia.

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Abstract

Industries across Australia, including Local Government (LG), are facing acute skill shortages. LG is one of the most important employers in remote and regional Australia; it is also a source for skilled service employment. The challenges of attracting, developing and retaining a skilled workforce are greater in regional and isolated rural areas. Potential challenges include offering salaries and amenities that are competitive; developing career paths within LG; partnering with education and training providers to develop career and skill development programs; and providing flexible employment options for those with family responsibilities or for older workers. Meeting current and future skill needs will be an ongoing challenge for the LG sector and more significantly regional councils. Within the context of a tightening national labour market the regional LG sector will find it difficult to compete against other industry sectors and urban based LGs to attract and retain skilled labour.

The overall objective of this research was to develop a comprehensive LG careers toolkit to assist regional local government to attract LG workforces in regional South Australia (SA). Specific research questions were: What are the career pathways within and across the 12 local government job families? Who are the key stakeholders in SA regions that have the potential to collaborate with regional LG in addressing their workforce issues? What are some of the regional initiatives that are being practised across regional SA that could assist and inform the regional LG sector in terms of building partnerships to attract workers to the sector?

The research has identified an array of job roles across all 12 local government job families and provided detailed information for each of these job roles. The research has also identified career pathways within job families and across job families. This base data can now be utilised by the regional LG sector to inform targeted marketing and attraction strategies for securing its future workforces. Pockets of best practice and regionally based initiatives have been uncovered and shared in this report. A key outcome of the study was the identification of closer and targeted engagement with regional secondary schools/TAFEs/training providers and SA based universities in relation to LG career pathways, work integrated learning (WIL), Gap Year Traineeships, Cadetships, Study Tours for international graduates and work placements.

Item ID:	82362
Item Type:	Report (Report)
Keywords:	career development, workforce planning, local government, employee retention, recruitment
Copyright Information:	All rights reserved © Legatus Group.
Funders:	Local Government Association of South Australia
Date Deposited:	05 Mar 2024 00:18
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3505 Human resources and industrial relations > 350506 Workforce planning @ 75% 39 EDUCATION > 3903 Education systems > 390303 Higher education @ 15% 39 EDUCATION > 3903 Education systems > 390308 Technical, further and workplace education @ 10%
SEO Codes:	23 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 2305 Work and labour market > 230501 Employment patterns and change @ 50% 16 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 1601 Learner and learning > 160102 Higher education @ 25% 16 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 1601 Learner and learning > 160104 Professional development and adult education @ 25%
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