The Escan has been undertaken during a period of significant change in the global and national environment. The macro environment is one of economic deceleration and the likely prospect of a global recession in 2009.

Australia will inevitably be impacted on by the global economic downturn, although the extent of the impact is uncertain.  For the Australian labour market it foreshadows increased complexity. There will be areas of skill surplus, resulting in unemployment, co-existing with continuing skills needs in other sectors or regions. 

These changes and other major trends and policy changes offer both opportunities and threats for vocational education and training (VET) generally.  While the six IBSA sectors each confront their own specific skill issues each is affected by these macro-level changes.  The increasingly complex environment calls for greater innovation that depends on developing human capital.  Industry stated in an ABS survey (2008) that innovation depends most on skills that fall within IBSA's responsibilities.  Consequently, IBSA has a particularly important role to ensure that training packages are attuned to business needs relating to these innovation skills.

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