Two-thirds of builders are struggling with lower demand as the construction sector faces widespread job losses and new concerns about coming workforce shortages.
A new survey reveals project cancellations now impact more than a third of businesses, while over 60% say it’s harder to keep their job lists full compared to a year ago.
NZ Certified Builders’ Michael Bottrill said he had “certainly heard of some poor chaps having to shut up shop” with a lot of businesses “coming close”.
“Certainly [I’ve] heard of apprentices being let go … it’s fair to say that’s because of a lack of work,” he said.
Electrical apprenticeship rates were now at their lowest since 2011, and concerns were growing that the workforce wouldn’t be able to meet the demand when the industry did bounce back.
Master Electricians’ chief executive Alex Vranyac-Wheeler said the industry had been facing a workforce shortage, but the impact wasn’t being felt as yet.
“We’ve currently got about a 6000 electrician workforce shortage, but we’re not feeling the impact of that right now because of the economic environment,” she said.
She warned of a “double whammy” when the sector recovered, with businesses lacking capability in new technologies and reduced ambition also affecting their willingness to take on apprentices.
“We’ll have a shortage of numbers in terms of capacity, but we’ve also got this double whammy of capability. We’ve got about 20% of our workforce retiring year-on-year. We’ve got fewer people coming into the industry.”
The sector was calling for more support from the Government to help grow the workforce, which could look at funding, immigration settings, and support for employers who took on apprentices.
Electrician Darren Mathews recently had to lay off two workers due to a lack of work, and was worried about what the downturn meant for new workers coming in the door.
“Over the years, we’ve had a lot of boom-bust cycles. It depends on where in the country you are, too,” he said. “We are all getting older and greyer, and we need the young guys to come through and replace our ageing workforce, I suppose.”
Minister rules out intervention
Construction Minister Chris Penk said he was hopeful demand would soon pick up.
“I don’t think the Government would look to intervene unnecessarily,” he said. “The sector now needs to understand that, with the building activity levels increasing, we’re going to have the opposite problem to what we’ve had and be desperately short of workers.”
Despite challenges, some still remained optimistic about entering the trades.
Apprentice electrician Elijah MacGillivray said his apprenticeship was “going really good”.
“A trade is probably the right place to be… you get to learn all kinds of stuff, even technically stuff that’s not really a part of your qualification,” he said.
That optimism would be crucial for the sector to endure, Bottrill said. “It is brutal. It is pretty tough out there, but we just need to stay positive — keep moving forward.”