More Australians are completing mature-aged apprenticeships to launch a career in the cooking world, a peak industry body has revealed.
Tourism Training Australia chief executive Bill Galvin said there was an emerging trend of workers aged between 30 and 50-years-old enrolling in chef courses across the country – addressing a rising demand for junior cooks and apprentice chefs.
“There is an increase in mature age staff in tourism and hospitality, especially in rural and regional outback Australia,” Mr Galvin explained, News Limited reported.
There has been an increase in participation of culinary courses across a number of areas over the last eight years, with New South Wales TAFE recording a rise of 260 per cent in patisserie, confectionery, chocolate and cake making course enrolment from 2006 to 2010.
Service Skills Australia’s Tourism Hospitality and Events Report 2012 indicated younger workers were moving away from the industry as their older counterparts dominated the sector.
From 2003 to 2010, the number of workers aged 45 and over employed in the hospitality, food services and tourism industry surged by 21.8 per cent.
In addition, the Deloitte Access Economics Australian Tourism Force Survey showed more and more businesses were employing mature age workers to address labour shortages.
