Desperate building industry wants to employ pensioners to fill labour shortfall – but needs tax breaks

The building industry is so short of workers it wants to recruit pensioners – but to do so, it’ll need a change from the top.

The building industry is so hard up for labour it wants to recruit pensioners and army veterans.

The recruitment campaign, based on tax breaks for volunteers, is the brainchild of the Master Builders SA CEO Will Frogley.

It would require the federal government to remove punishing taxes that keep people out of the workforce in times of high employment, and include them in the regular income tax system.

Mr Frogley said many builders were crying out for any labour they could hire, including in administration jobs.

“Currently for every dollar earned over $490 a fortnight, these people lose 50 cents of their pension,’’ he said.

“Beyond that their marginal tax rate kicks in at 19 per cent so you get a 69 per cent effective marginal tax rate!

“So just 3 per cent of our pensioners work compared with 25 per cent in NZ.”

Mr Frogley said many tradespeople had learnt their craft in the military and were capable and relatively young.

“As discussed, it seems regardless of the sector everyone you talk to at the moment is battling with skills shortages,’’ he said.

“Our industry is really suffering from both lack of trades and white-collar jobs like contract administrators and that is causing delays and cost blowouts.

“We need more people trained, more skilled migrants, etc … but this takes time.

“Until then pensioners and veterans can earn as much as they want, keep their pension and just pay income tax like everyone else – that could be a huge boost to labour supply.”

Will Frogley from Master Builders. Picture: Matt Loxton

The office of the Prime Minister has been contacted for comment.

Home and commercial property builders face huge price increases of up to 20 per cent and delays of months because of a shortage of labour to build and manage projects.

“There are more than 500,000 job vacancies in all sectors in Australia,’’ Mr Frogley said.

“If the Albanese Government made these simple changes hundreds of thousands of pensioners and veterans could re-enter the workforce and help fill these job vacancies.

“Many pensioners would want to work if they weren’t penalised so heavily. So let’s free them up to do so. They are badly needed out there.”

Mr Frogley said the scheme would work across many job types and sectors, including indoor jobs where many less physically abled would qualify.

“Obviously some work in our industry is very physical and many pensioners and veterans might not be up to it, but any help right now would be extremely helpful, and it could really assist other industries,’’ he said.

“Whoever you speak to, regardless of the sector, the biggest challenge right now is finding the skilled workers required to meet demand.

“This is a no-brainer. There are no downsides and yet it could provide a big boost to productivity.”