One manufacturing boss says it has become nearly impossible to hire Gen Z workers because “they don’t want to get their hands dirty.”
It comes as the Albanian government this month revealed its plans for the future of Australia’s manufacturing industry, with a $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund designed to create jobs and diversify the economy.
Stripco Sandblasting and Powder Coating boss Paul Bucciarelli said he is struggling to find young people who want to work at his factory in Sydney’s southwest.
“We are in dire straits in this country when it comes to manufacturing,” he told A Current Affair on Sunday night.
“The problem is that in Australia there is a stigma among young people about taking jobs, rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty.”
Fabricator Paul Bucciarelli said there is a “stigma” in Australia about getting your hands dirty on a job.
Stripco Sandblasting and Powder Coating boss is struggling to find young workers and blames college education (Stripco workers pictured)
Bucciarelli said his employees are quickly approaching retirement age and he is desperate to fill their positions with a new generation of workers, but he said the task is proving nearly impossible.
“We need a new generation to emerge and we haven’t been able to find it,” he said.
He blames the obsession with college education as one of the main reasons young people no longer want to work in manufacturing jobs.
‘[There’s] too many educated people, making too little money and too much competition in those areas and in other areas like construction and getting their hands dirty, [there’s] “There are not enough people,” said Mr. Bucciarelli.
Bucciarelli said there were “too many educated people” and they received low salaries in their competitive white-collar jobs. The boss blames parents for pressuring children “to be educated”
Although he added that “it is not necessarily their fault” and parents are responsible for “pressuring them to educate themselves.”
‘Society, government [and] The educational institutions have educated them that way,” said Mr. Bucciarelli.
‘AND [pushed] in that direction so that they feel that they have the right.