More tradies needed to deliver Australia’s big build agenda

After a decade of pushing kids to become university graduates, Australia has a dearth of people chasing vocational careers which is a problem for the delivery of the nation’s big build agenda.

Trade over university ... carpentry apprentice Harry Steptoe in his workshop in Brisbane on Friday. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Maths whiz Harry Steptoe could have gone to university but the handy Brisbane boy chose to pick up a trade instead.

Attracted by work-life balance and practical skills, the 20-year-old is in the third year of a carpentry apprenticeship and has not looked back. He one day hopes to run his own business.

For the past 25 years, school leavers have been funnelled from school to university to complete degrees in “knowledge roles”. Demographer Bernard Salt argues in The Weekend Australian Magazine that we need more of the next generation to follow Mr Steptoe’s path to fill key gaps so “Australia can grow, defend itself, house its people and care for its aged”.

“I know people who have gone to uni and by the time they finished, they’ve got a $50,000 HECS debt,” Mr Steptoe said.

“They’re left with this one qualification and, honestly, not many real life skills.

“As an apprentice, you go through your apprenticeship making money the whole time while you’re learning and then you’ve had four years of hands-on experience, and you’re actually properly prepared to go out in the world and do your thing.”

The gap between the number of people becoming knowledge workers, such as lawyers or doctors, has exponentially widened from those pursuing trade work. Mr Salt believes this gap needs to be narrowed in order for the nation to progress into the future.

Housing Industry Association managing director Jocelyn Martin said there are a lot of a lot of misconceptions about trades, particularly around early pay.

“Schools can do a lot more to remove the stigma from the vocational education pathway and make them much more accessible,” Ms Martin said.

“There’s also a lot of discussion that construction tends to appeal to mostly male; we’re only appealing to half the population.”

Heir-apparent to national construction firm Hutchinson Builders, Jack Hutchinson, says he would support his daughter should she choose to pursue a ­vocational career in the future.

Jack Hutchinson with wife Fatya and daughter Marianne last year. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The company director and millennial father said the industry was changing.

“We’ve had a real drain on skills with more people retiring than joining the industry and it’s playing out on sites,” he said. “If they’ve got a good brain on them and some basic communication skills and arithmetic skills, they can make a move fairly seamlessly in project management and the commercial side of the business because they’ve got all the actual technical knowledge,” Mr Hutchinson said.

Mr Steptoe lives at home with his supportive parents in Shailer Park, on Brisbane’s southern suburban outskirts.

Mr Salt says areas like these on the perimeter of capital cities are becoming “Tradie Towns” as metropolitan perimeters keep expanding to keep up with booming populations.

These towns include Warragul and Drouin, east of Melbourne, and Cooranbong Morisset on Sydney’s Central Coast.

The young apprentice said he was disappointed his school in Brisbane’s southside had failed ­to champion apprenticeships as a leading post-school option alongside university.

A high priority for the new generation of worker is work-life balance, and Mr Steptoe thinks he has got a good deal.