It helps. Whether it's a panacea or can, on its own, address the kinds of shortages we're looking at, I don't believe so. In many cases those individuals who are looking for that retraining or re-employment are middle aged. In those circumstances, because of some of the job requirements—including travelling to remote areas and, in some cases, having to be in good physical shape, etc.—it's not always a quick fix. In other words, in taking people who are in their forties or fifties and saying, we can retrain you and you can be on the job tomorrow, other factors come into play.
On May 16th, 2012. See this statement in context.