Lack of foresight behind skills shortage: workforce planning requires vision and foresight, attributes that have been sadly lacking in Australia over the past 10 years as our desperate skills shortage shows

Lamp, The, July, 2007

* Labor says this investment in education is necessary to turn around what it calls Australia's woeful productivity performance, which has dropped, relative to the US economy, from 85% to 79% between 1998 and 2005.

CHANGES IN PUBLIC EXPENDITURE (SHARE OF GDP)
ON TERTIARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS 1995 TO 2003

Australia        -7
UK                6
Netherlands       9
Austria          11
Germany          11
Italy            18
Denmark          22
Japan            32
Sweden           32
Canada           37
Mexico           49
Slovak Republic  51
Czech Republic   60
Spain            63
USA              67
Hungary          78
Ireland          99
OECD Average     48

Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2006 Table B2.2

NOTE: Table made from bar graph.