Teens should consider a tradie apprenticeship with demand set to soar after lockdowns

Teens should consider embarking on tradie apprenticeships, with Victoria is on the cusp of a massive building boom and profitable careers beckoning.

School leavers are being encouraged to consider a trade apprenticeship to meet the demands of the infrastructure and home building boom across Victoria in the next decade.

The statewide skills shortage looms as one of the biggest challenges to the post-pandemic rebuild.

Teenagers should consider TAFE study to learn trade skills, Tim Rawlings, director of PwC’s Skills for Australia, said.

“To any school leaver I’ll tell them to do an apprenticeship because although there’s been a big push towards other industries, we still need people to build our roads and fix our pipes and turn our lights on.’’

He also warned that because Victoria’s lockdowns were so harsh many people next year would leave or travel next year, adding to skills shortages.

Civil engineering and construction was crying out for skilled labour, Mr Rawlings said.

“There are so many projects going on across Victoria and across Australia that they are just being hoovered up at the moment,’’ Mr Rawlings said.

School leavers are being encouraged to learn trade skills. Picture: Chris Kidd

The state’s home-building industry alone will need tens of thousands of extra workers in the coming years.

Victoria’s expected population growth would mean that between 304,000 and 370,000 new homes would have to built across the state by mid-2027.

The National Skills Commission has forecast total construction employment for 2025 will increase by 8.8 per cent – or 27,600 people – compared with November 2020.

Master Builders Victoria chief executive Rebecca Casson said the state should prepare for a $300 billion building and construction blitz over the next five years.

“We expect building and construction activity to ramp up considerably next year now Victoria is free from the shackles of lockdowns.”

University-qualified employees would also be in demand, former premier John Brumby told VECCI’s Victoria Summit.

Tens of thousands of extra workers will be needed in the state’s home-building industry in the coming years. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A report from the National Skills Commission forecast that 53 per cent of all new jobs in the next five years in Australia would require a university degree while 10 per cent would need a diploma.

“That’s going to be the engine room of economic growth,’’ Mr Brumby said.

Also, one in four jobs would be in health-related industries, he said.

“I’m not sure any government in Australia yet is on top of this issue about the extraordinary demand and the shortages that are going to occur in this space over the next two years

if we don’t do something truly transformative.’’

The impact of the state’s large infrastructure program, the hospital backlog after the pandemic and even a post-Covid brain drain all threaten the economic fightback. And it’s also exacerbated by the absence of the national skilled migrant program for the past two years.

Infrastructure Australia has predicted a national shortfall of 70,000 scientists and engineers and 19,000 project managers between now and 2025.

CEDA chief executive Melinda Cilento said a nationwide disruption and dislocation of people created uncertainty for a range of sectors including aged care, construction, accounting and professional services

“What I’m hearing from businesses that they’re experiencing skills shortages and labour shortages across a really broad front.’’

The aged care sector, for example, was short of 17,000 workers a year, she said.

The opening of international borders and the arrival of skilled migrants would help, she said, but urged governments to consider a fast-track passport system for people with skills in demand.

For the hospitality and retail sectors, the skills shortages were more immediate.

Enda Cunningham, Crown’s executive general manager of food and beverage, said the recovery of the hospitality sector would be at the heart of Victoria’s recovery.

“It won’t and can’t be a ‘business as usual’ bounce-back. The skill standard right across our industry ultimately benefits us all,’’ he said.

Crown’s own training program will offer 1000 free spots in its food and beverage skills course by next July.

Originally published as Teens should consider a tradie apprenticeship with demand set to soar after lockdowns