More than 83,000 extra tradies are “urgently needed” to achieve Australia’s target of building 1.2 million homes over the next five years. Carpenters, electricians and plumbers are among the most in-demand workers, with jobs paying up to $110,000 a year on average.
New modelling from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) found the trades workforce needs to grow by at least 30 per cent in order to meet the Housing Accord’s goals. That’s up from the current 278,000 workers currently employed.
An extra 22,000 carpenters, 17,300 electricians and nearly 12,000 plumbers are among the workers desperately needed.
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HIA future workforce executive director Geordan Murray said an average of 240,000 homes needed to be built annually to achieve the Housing Accord’s target, a level that has only been approached twice in Australia’s history.
“Achieving the Housing Accord’s target is critical to meeting national housing demand and alleviating cost pressures, but it will not happen without a significant increase in the construction trades workforce,” Murray said.
“This means a significant boost in the number of chippies, sparkies, plumbers, brickies and concreters, to get these much-needed homes out of the ground and to lock up.”
Top 12 in-demand tradies
Here are the top 12 key trade occupations that need workers, plus their average salaries according to SEEK.
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Carpenter – $70,000 to $90,000 a year, 22,020 needed
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Electrician – $90,000 to $110,000 per year, 17,317 needed
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Plumber -$75,00 to $95,000 per year, 11,899 needed
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Painter – $65,000 to $85,000 per year, 8,032 needed
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Bricklayer – $55,000 to $75,000 per year, 4,518 needed
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Cabinetmaker – $60,000 to $80,000 per year, 4,408 needed
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Plasterer – $60,000 to $80,000 per year, 3,548 needed
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Tiler – $75,000 to $85,000 per year, 3,421 needed
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Concreter – $75,000 to $95,000 per year, 3,126 needed
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Roof tiler – $75,000 to $80,000 per year, 1,915 needed
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Floor finisher – $75,000 per year, 1,805 needed
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Glazier – $70,000 to $85,000 per year, 1,339 needed
Murray said “significant challenges” remained despite efforts to boost Australia’s tradie workforce.
There are around 114,000 apprentices currently in training, which is down slightly from record levels. HIA said this number would need to nearly double to meet requirements in the next five years.
Data from the Department of Home Affairs found there are just 3,644 workers on temporary skill shortage visas currently in Australia working in the key trade occupations.
“Creating career opportunities for the local workforce should be a priority, however this alone will not solve to the tradie shortage,” Murray said.
“Skilled migration is the other key lever that the government can pull in the short term to address the immediate shortage of tradies.
“The time for business as usual solutions has passed, and we need all hands on deck and coordinated government actions to address the chronic tradies skills shortages.”
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