HR Daily has reported on the Australian Industry Group and Deloitte National CEO Survey. The survey has found that Australian CEOs are planning to continue cutting their training budgets well into 2010 despite claims that things will soon start to pick up. 

This lack of training will only exacerbate the skills shortage. Of the third of companies reporting plans to cut costs on training expenditure, one fifth expected reductions of greater than 20 per cent. 

"Skills shortages continue to be a major strategic issue for business despite the downturn and its impact on employment," said Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout, in releasing the results. 

More than a quarter of companies surveyed were severely affected by the economic downturn and budgets show the impact is far from over. 

During the economic downturn business were forced to cut costs and this usually included employment and training budgets. As the downturn improves there will be a strong need to increase the level of training provided.  

These budget cuts to training are affecting staff across the board, including senior managers.

"Under-investment in leadership training will need to be addressed if Australia is to take advantage of being one of the first economies to emerge from the downturn and attract the talent it needs to drive growth," said Deloitte Human Capital partner David Brown. 

"Organisations will need to ensure they attract and retain more than their fair share of the available talent, particularly as we start to see an increase in the demand for talent in the new year." 

Brown said "strong literacy and numeracy skills amongst flexible, motivated pools of talent are needed if we are to deliver on our nation's potential."