A joint government/industry funded program to retain automotive engineering skills has been proposed by the Society of Automotive Engineers - Australasia (SAE-A) in the face of the recent flurry of automotive manufacturing and design centre closures. SAE-A said that the shutdowns will result in over 2000 professional engineers and technicians being made redundant, 85% of whom are from Victoria. These losses will likely result in a substantial automotive engineering skills drain as engineers are drawn to areas where they are in high demand - for example, the US alone has more than 7000 vacancies in the sector. This, combined with the international transferability of engineering qualifications, means many engineers could be heading overseas. Recently there has been a sharp increase in the quantity of foreign automotive companies advertising in Australia. SAE-A suggested that historically a large percentage of Australian engineers that head overseas never return, which leads to a permanent loss of engineering skills and capabilities, detrimental to the overall development of the nation.
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