Skills Tasmania
Regional Profile
Part 1: Demographic and Social Profile of HuonValleyand BrunyIsland
Version 1.1
8 November 2007
Commercial in Confidence 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
METHODOLOGY
Synopsis
Overview
Regional Snapshot: Huon Valley Local Government Area
Regional Snapshot: Bruny Island Combined Suburbs
Regional Snapshot: The Huon Valley Working Population
Regional Snapshot: The Bruny Island Working Population
Huon Valley Suburb Profiles
Cygnet
Dover
Franklin
Geeveston
Huonville-Ranelagh
Bruny Island Suburb Profiles
Alonnah
Dennes Point
Adventure Bay
Socio Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)
Comparison of the Huon Valley and Bruny Island to Other Tasmanian Statistical Local Areas
Demographic Trends
Tasmania’s Ageing Workforce
Housing Trends
Document Control
Document Location
File Location / \\Entertrainfs1\storage\entertrain_docs\Clients & Projects\O P C E T\Projects\Huon Valley Regional Profile\Report\Final Report 081107\Part 1 v1.1.docThis document is only valid on the day it was printed.
Revision History
Version # / Author / Summary of Changes / Date of Issue / Cleared by0.1 -0.3 / Alexander Piekutowski / Initial Drafts / August 07
0.4 / David Morgan / Review & edit / 05 Sept 07
1.0 / David Morgan / Consolidate / 24 Oct 07
1.1 / DM, HH / Update census data, review in light of comment from D Olden / 7 Nov 2007
Final Approvals
Name / Initials / Title / Date of Issue / Version #David Morgan / DM / Managing Director / 1.0
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report provides a demographic and labour market profile of the Huon and BrunyIsland regions of Tasmania. The report is comprised of two parts:
Part one of this report provides a high level overview of the Huon Valley Local Government Area, as well as BrunyIsland suburbs. The report summarises key characterises of the working population and provides a suburb by suburb summary of social and population trends. Part one concludes by discussing factors that impact on the age and social structure of communities such as aging populations, housing trends and access to economic resources.
Part two focuses on the business environment and documents the findings from a series of consultations with key stakeholders and larger employers. It particularly focuses on providing an understanding of the drivers of skill demand and the barriers to growth in the regions. A case study based approach is used to illustrate the range of human resource strategies major industry employers are implementing to meet their skill and labour requirements.
Part twoalso identifies industry change drivers impacting on small and medium size businesses. This information results from survey responses from 46 business. The training and skill needs of small business are presented in a comparative table which highlight the need for different interventions to stimulate business growth.
Key findings of this report are:
- From a socio demographic perspective BrunyIsland has changed little in the last decade, conversely the Huon region has experienced strong population growth.
- Four major industry groups dominate industrial activity in the region, namely aquaculture, forestry, agriculture and tourism. Each is predominantly influenced by factors external to the region.
- Small business dominates the region. The characteristics that this ‘sector’ exhibit provides significant challenges to skill development. Including the effects of workforce tenure on professional development opportunities, culture and adoption of training as a business tool, it effects training delivery preferences and sensitivity to external influences such as changes in consumer preference.
- The relative isolation of the region is a major influence on the majority of workforce issues. It effects recruitment, retention, and career development opportunities across all industries.
- Skill shortages are evident for specific occupations. Reasons for these shortages vary and include issues related to worker attraction, structural issues in career pathways, cultural, and physical location.
- Skill shortages in relation to language, literacy (including technical) and numeracy were reported across the region.
- The drivers of skill demand are dominated by macro issues outside of the scope of influence of the region on its own.
In light of the findings, interventions are recommended in the following areas:
Recommendation 1
Low levels of literacy are reported across the region. This skill set incudes general literacy and numeracy including technological literacy. Specific industry areas of need are in aquaculture, forestry, and agriculture.
Recommendation 2
Full qualifications are reported as being of limited utility to businesses in the region. There are numerous reasons for this some of which relate to the demand for skill sets rather than full qualifications. This was particularly noted in the lower skilled food and fish processing operation areas, wild fisheries, tourism customer service and guiding.
Recommendation 3
The relevancy and coordination of on the job/ off the job training in trade apprenticeships should be reviewed. Small manufacturing businesses as well construction representatives questioned the amount of synchronisation between the two.
Recommendation 4
The State Government in partnership with large scale project proponents should continue to support skill development opportunities across the supply chain, to ensure that new initiatives provide maximum leverage across the skill base of the Huon.
Recommendation 5
The State Government in partnership with Huon Valley Council should commence dialogue to seek ways to promote the career development opportunities that the region has to offer for managerial and highly skilled staff.
2.0 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Introduction
Research for The Huon Valley and BrunyIsland regional training demand profile commenced in July 2007. The project was conducted by The Work Lab under commission by Skills Tasmania (formerly the Office of Post Compulsory Education and Training).
The research had two major components – resulting in a two part report. Research was conducted using a combination of techniques including:
- Desktop research and literature review of State wide reports, training demand profiles and statistical collections.
- A purpose designed survey of small businesses in the HuonValley and BrunyIsland.
- A series of semi structured interviews with selected businesses, industry bodies and other stakeholders.
The application of research techniques was delivered in a holistic manner with key interests being supply chains and understanding the drivers of industry skills.
The sampling framework used to guide the research incorporated relationships across both ANZSIC industry and ANZSCO occupation classifications so as to get the most comprehensible results possible.
2.2 Methodology stages
Part One: Statistical analysis
Research for part one of the report consisted of a desktop study to identify the impact of economic and other factors on the HuonValley municipality, in particular including a thorough analysis of statistical data across the social and demographic domains. Research into housing was also conducted to gain insight into the potential influx and issues related to a locally based working population.
The demographic profiles of the HuonValleyMunicipality and BrunyIslandwere mainly derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2006 Census Data. The ABS data is reported at the ‘suburb’ level and focuses on [usual] residents of the respective areas
Population projections were sourced from Dr Natalie Jackson from the University of Tasmaniaand used to estimate population aging rates.[1] Median housing and land data was sourced from the Land Information System Tasmania (LIST). The Real Estate Institute of Tasmanian provided a snapshot report showing relative house changes in the past 12 months. Specific demographic information relating to the HuonValley was provided by the Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT) and the Council for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).
Part Two: Business Profile
Research for part two of the report consisted of three activities:
1. Literature Review
A literature review was undertaken to get insight into the dynamics of industry sectors identified (in part one) as being of critical importance to the region. Training demand profiles for ANZSIC industry classifications were sourced from Skills Tasmania.
Additional literature was sourced by the research team to provide background understanding of key themes pertinent to exploring training demand issues in Regional Australia. Key reports that particularly shaped the research methodology were:
‘From ‘skill shortages’ to decent work’– The role of better skill ecosystems’, a paper by John Buchanan, Workplace Research Centre University of Sydney. The paper focuses on skill shortage trends covering topics such as work standards, retention of workers, demographics and skill wasting.
‘Size Matters: National summative evaluation of the small business professional Development Best Practice Programme’, 1997-2000. This document outlines insight into demands, and barriers faced by small businesses.
2. Consultations
Based on the trends identified in part one, key employers in industry sectors of specific importance to the HuonValley and BrunyIslandMunicipalities were approached for consultation. Some of these consultations were face-to-face interviews and others telephone interviews. A technique known as snowballing was used, whereby industry representatives are asked to provide the name of one other suitable person to contact for information about an industry and thus giving qualitative information a larger degree of credibility. This technique lead to the inclusion of consultations with representative bodies and other stakeholders with interest and influence in the region.
3. Small Business Survey
A small business survey was developed and distributed via mail to 205 businesses from a database developed initially by Huon Valley Council and expanded by Yellow Pages and Biz Tas searches. The response rate from this survey was 20.5% which is a relatively typical return from a survey of this nature.
For the purposes of the research business size was defined according to Australian Bureau of Statistics[2] criteria. According to ABS criteria business size is defined by the number of full time employees (FTE’s); with micro business being made up of less than 5 workers, small businesses less than 20, medium businesses less than 200, and large businesses defined having over 200 employees. It is worth noting that no business operating in the region classifies as ‘large’ and all but 3 are either micro or small businesses by ABS definition.
3.0 SYNOPSIS
The main employment industries in the HuonValleyare agriculture, forestry and aquaculture and on BrunyIsland accommodation and food services.
In the HuonValley area labourers and technical workers are the most common occupational groups. These workers are most likely to hold a Certificate III or IV level qualification. On BrunyIslandmanagers are the largest occupational group and these people hold either bachelors degrees or Certificate III and IV level qualifications.
For the HuonValley area SEIFA indices suggested lower educational attainment levels when compared with other parts of Tasmania. Comparable SEIFA data for BrunyIsland showed high levels of educational attainment for the suburb of Dennes Point.
The aforementioned findings were used to guide interview and survey data collection strategies in part 2 of this report. Consultations with large industry employers were sought in the agriculture, forest and aquaculture industry. For BrunyIsland a business survey gathered data for the accommodation and food services industries.
4.0 OVERVIEW
This section provides a high level overview of the HuonValley and BrunyIsland regions; it summaries population demographics, ethnicity and housing characteristics. It then provides a regional snapshot of the working population; its industry, occupations and educationalattainment. The aforementioned data is then reviewed for each suburb of the respective regions. Finally the section concludes by reviewing changes in demographic structure and housing and how these may impact on the future demand for skills and labour.
Regional Snapshot: HuonValley Local Government Area
The HuonValley consists of fivesuburbs, namely Cygnet, Dover, Franklin, Geevestonand Huonville-Ranelagh. There were 14,001 persons usual resident in Huon Valley Local Government Area on census night in 2006. Of these 50.6% were males and 49.4% were females. Of the total population in Huon Valley LGA, 8.8% were Indigenous persons, compared with 2.3% Indigenous persons in Australia. The median age of HuonValley residents is 39 years old.
Over 50 percent of HuonValley residents are married and approximately 30 percent have never been married, with the remaining population separated or widowed. There are over 3,880 families and about 43 percent of these have children. English is the main language spoken at home (94%), followed by German and Italian (less than 1% combined). The majority of residents in the Huon Valley LGA were born Australian (82%) or England (5.7%). About 12 percent of the population were born overseas.
Over 95 percent of dwellings in the Huon Valley LGA are private dwelling. The median loan repayments are $780 per month and median rents are $130 per week. Over 42 percent of dwellings are fully owned, 34 percent of being purchased and 17 percent are rented.
During the week prior to the 2006 Census, 5,910 people aged 15 years and over who were usually resident in Huon Valley LGA were in the labour force. Of these, 51% were employed full-time34% were employed part-time, 4% were employed but away from work. There were 4,469 usual residents aged 15 years and over not in the labour force.
The most common industries of employment were Aquaculture (5%), Fruit and Tree Nut Growing (5%), School Education (5%), Hospitals (3%) and State Government Administration (2.6%). The most occupation for employed personswere Labourers (17.7%), Technicians and Trades Workers (15.6%), Managers 14.6%, Professionals (13.6%) and Clerical and Administrative Workers (12.3%).
Regional Snapshot: BrunyIsland Combined Suburbs
BrunyIsland is located in the municipality of Kingborough and consists of three suburbs namely Alonnah, Dennes Point and AdventureBay. The following overview of the social and demographic was derived from aggregating ABS data for BrunyIsland suburbs.
There were 667 ‘usual BrunyIslandresidents’ on the night of the 2006 census which is approximately 0.14%percent of the Tasmanian population. Of these 49.3% were males and 50.7% were females. Of the total population 2.0% were Indigenous persons, compared with 2.3% Indigenous persons in Australia. The median age of BrunyIslandresidents is between 51-56 years old.
An average of 44.2% percent of BrunyIsland residents is married and approximately 18.5% percent have never been married, with the remaining population separated or widowed. There are over 168 families and about 24.8% percent of these have children. English is the main language spoken at home (88.8 %), followed by German andFrench (less than 4.6 % combined). The majority of BrunyIslandresidents were born Australian (74.2%) or England (7.6%). About 6.2% percent of the population were born overseas.
Over 56% percent of dwellings on BrunyIsland are privately owned. The median loan repayments are $ 732 per month and median rents are $ 38 per week. Over 56% percent of dwellings are fully owned, 21.7% percent of being purchased and 11.9% percent are rented.
During the week prior to the 2006 Census, 240 people aged 15 years and over who were usually resident on BrunyIsland were in the labour force. Of these, 41.6 % were employed full-time 40.8 % were employed part-time, 5.8 % were employed but away from work. There were 308 usual residents aged 15 years and over not in the labour force.
The most common industries of employment were Accommodation (8.9%), Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain farming (10.8%). The most common occupation for employed persons was Professionals (17.8%), Managers (25.5%), Labourers (10.5%), Technical and Trade Worker (11.8%), Clerical and Administrative worker (6.3%) and Community and Personal Service Worker (9.2%).
Regional Snapshot: The HuonValley Working Population
HuonValley has a working population of approximately 5482 people. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing was the largest industry sector employing around 949 people, followed by the Retail Trade(587 people) and Health Care and Social Assistance (556 people; Table 1). On a gender basis females were more likely to be employed in the Retail Trade (339 females) followed by Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (288 females; refer Table 2). Males were most often employed in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (661 males), Construction (397 males) and Manufacturing (374 Males; refer Table 3).
Labourers were the most presented occupational group (971 people) followed by Technical and Trades Workers (855 people). Males were more likely to be employed as Trades Workers (721 males), Labourers (586 males) or Managers (546 males). Females were more likely to be employed as Clerical and Administrative Workers (551 females), Professionals (434 females) or Community and Personal Service Workers (418 females; Refer Tables 4 and 5).
The majority of the labour forced is employed full time (3044 people; 2092 males and 952 females) and 2025 people are employed part-time (657 males and 1368 females; refer 6 and 7). There were 302 people looking for full time work and 131 people looking for part-time work. The majority of people looking for work were males (208 people) and approximately equal numbers of females were looking for either full-time or part-time work (94 and 88 people, respectively).
The most frequently obtained qualifications were Certificate III and IV (1617 people; 1192 males and 425 females), followed by Bachelors Degrees (786 people; 306 males and 480 females; refer Table 8 and 9).
Commercial in Confidence 1
Table 1: Industry Employed by Age (Persons)
15-19 / 20-24 / 25-34 / 35-44 / 45-54 / 55-64 / 65-74 / 75-84 / 85 yearsyears / years / years / years / years / years / years / years / and over / Total
PERSONS
Agriculture, forestry & fishing / 25 / 66 / 176 / 238 / 214 / 170 / 48 / 12 / 0 / 949
Mining / 0 / 0 / 7 / 3 / 3 / 6 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 22
Manufacturing / 41 / 37 / 88 / 140 / 115 / 65 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 493
Electricity, gas, water & waste services / 0 / 3 / 10 / 19 / 20 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 56
Construction / 29 / 27 / 93 / 118 / 111 / 53 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 435
Wholesale trade / 10 / 11 / 31 / 45 / 35 / 19 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 154
Retail trade / 71 / 69 / 106 / 136 / 116 / 75 / 10 / 4 / 0 / 587
Accommodation & food services / 31 / 32 / 46 / 64 / 52 / 53 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 281
Transport, postal & warehousing / 6 / 5 / 20 / 37 / 63 / 52 / 19 / 3 / 0 / 205
Information media & telecommunications / 6 / 6 / 8 / 17 / 30 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 74
Financial & insurance services / 6 / 8 / 15 / 23 / 18 / 9 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 79
Rental, hiring & real estate services / 0 / 12 / 12 / 16 / 10 / 15 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 65
Professional, scientific & technical services / 17 / 12 / 25 / 47 / 65 / 33 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 206
Administrative & support services / 8 / 11 / 26 / 44 / 30 / 14 / 6 / 0 / 0 / 139
Public administration & safety / 9 / 23 / 63 / 116 / 125 / 48 / 6 / 3 / 0 / 393
Education & training / 6 / 7 / 49 / 101 / 127 / 71 / 6 / 0 / 0 / 367
Health care & social assistance / 6 / 27 / 77 / 141 / 193 / 99 / 13 / 0 / 0 / 556
Arts & recreation services / 6 / 3 / 7 / 23 / 29 / 15 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 86
Other services / 18 / 21 / 30 / 36 / 41 / 20 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 173
Inadequately described/Not stated / 14 / 10 / 21 / 40 / 35 / 28 / 8 / 3 / 0 / 159
Total / 309 / 390 / 910 / 1,404 / 1,432 / 856 / 153 / 25 / 0 / 5,479
Table 2: Industry Employed by Age and Gender (Females)