“Whether they have just left school or enjoying an extended gap year, there are over 1.6 million people in Australia aged between 17 and 21, the key age cohort, making decisions about their future career.

“Our education system is heavily weighted to supporting young Australians through their schooling and into post education but once they leave, they often become lost to the system.

“Equally there is a large cohort who start a university degree, realise it is not for them and look to change direction.

“We still hear commonly a career in a trade or undertaking apprenticeships, cadetships and traineeships are treated and promoted often as second choice careers.

“This is despite the hugely rewarding career and financial benefits that undertaking a trade or career in our industry provides.

“Recently HIA modelling found that we need at least another 83,348 workers across the top 12 trades in residential construction.

“The shortage of skilled workers is a major impediment to the supply of housing. Labour shortages are resulting in project delays which add to the cost of construction. 

“Not only is Australia facing a chronic shortage of skilled workers, but the competition for workers has never been tougher. This competition is only expected to increase with a number of significant infrastructure and big build projects in the pipeline.

“Currently there are 343,640 apprentices and trainees in-training across all sectors. Construction apprenticeships make up approximately 100,000 of this share. However, last year only around 21,000 of the 17-21 year olds commenced training in one of the key construction trades required for home building, this equates to just 1.3 per cent.

“Another challenge that exists, in attracting this ‘missing middle’ cohort is that our apprenticeship system treats those aged over 21 as ‘mature aged’. In the absence of support for those employing adult apprentices it has become common for employers to overlook workers eligible for the adult apprentice wage in favour of younger workers.

“Providing career opportunities for local workers should always be the priority, however, this alone will not see the workforce grow quickly enough. There are a large number of skilled migrants in the country but due to complexity of our training and jurisdictional licencing means many of them are not working in our industry despite having some relevant experience that could be tapped into.

“Proximity of training services is also another barrier on education and labour force outcomes. For apprentices, the proximity of training facilities may necessitate them moving or traveling excessively to complete their trade training. This is particularly pronounced in regional, rural and remote Australia.

“HIA has heard stories of apprentices having to drive 3-4 hours to and from trade schools.

“Our training systems need to modernise to meet industry needs including with adoption of new building materials, technology, increased level of offsite construction and tapping into the potential of AI.

“In some circumstances a micro-credential or skill set can address emerging trends and provide more flexibility to meet industry needs.  

"This National Skills Week, HIA is calling for fresh thinking to address our industry’s chronic skills shortages,” concluded Ms Martin.

HIA’s recommendations include:

• Undertake a targeted program for recent school leavers to promote taking on a trade that describes career opportunities and wage and other benefits.
• Introduce incentives that help bridge any wage shortfall for ‘mature aged apprentices’ and their employers.
• Fund a program to support a range of traineeships and cadetships in professional construction careers in high demand.
• Support the delivery of a national job ready program to give a ‘taste tester’ of working in a trade, including through the use of VR simulation.
• Implement a pilot program for accelerated apprenticeships, through use of micro-credentials or vendor-credentialing as a pathway to offer a fast and practical way for workers to upskill allowing new skills to be applied.
• Provide funding to industry associations to support new skilled immigrants navigate jurisdictional licensing and other regulatory requirements to enter the industry.

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