Townsville needs a Skills Security Plan.

TP Human Capital Director Mr Cook said "Townsville region Unemployment levels are steady with a positive medium-term trend however we expect the short term trend unemployment rate to weaken slightly coming into the end of the school year. On the positive side, the event and Xmas season should boost casual positions over the next 2-3 months.

Mr Cook said "Although there still remains a solid skills mismatch issue in Townsville region. There's plenty of jobs being advertised but sometimes they don't get filled. Those jobs or skills that are difficult to fill in and around the Townsville region include FIFO/DIDO mining projects, experienced finance and marketing rolls and construction. The most difficult roles to fill are in Construction. We find this right across the range of projects and clients we deal with. This skills challenge is due to competing demands from local disaster recovery work, scores of significant local projects and competition with projects and mines in other regions. The supply-side factors affecting skills recruitment include poor skills security planning and to a lesser extent Townsville growing crime reputation, he said.

Mr Cook said "Our expectations for future trends in Townsville's workforce include improving significant project construction conditions, declining short term unemployment conditions and improving retail and restaurant activity leading into Melbourne Cup and Christmas. Party season. With the significant projects pipeline, Townsville Skills challenges are likely to remain for some time and we suggest Townsville still needs a quality skills retention and growth plan that cover the next four years and beyond."

TP Human Capital Recruitment Specialist, Grace Mitchell B.Psych said "from a psychological perspective, particularly that of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we address the base psychological needs in our life such as food and shelter before moving on to our safety needs. Safety includes security, looking at job security and safe working environments a well as safety in our neighbourhood. If we are unable to meet these needs, it produces psychological discomfort and stress. As job security in the area increases, reducing these stressors, communities retain a substantial talent pool allowing people to move on to the next level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: social. Social incorporate bringing a sense of belonging and being part of a team, looking at growth within this environment. This growth within the community and work environments promote this lifestyle to people outside of the environment, bringing general growth to the area".