Construction industry Tasmania: 1500 new workers a year needed
Our building and construction workforce needs to grow by the population of Kingborough LGA in the next decade otherwise we will be left behind, Master Builders Tasmania’s CEO says.
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Tasmania’s building and construction sector needs to recruit 1500 new employees to its workforce each year over the next decade to service the state’s $28bn development pipeline.
Releasing Master Builders Australia’s Building & Construction Tasmania February 2023 snapshot, chief executive Matthew Pollock said Tasmania had $28bn worth of projects in the pipeline over the next decade, while last year saw the first time annual construction work in the state totalled more than $4bn.
However, with so many projects in the mid-term future – not to mention the additional 3100 dwellings that need building each year to cater for population growth – the workforce would need to swell its numbers, Mr Pollock said.
“While we have a workforce of 25,000 at the moment, including nearly 3,500 apprentices, we will need around 40,000 people in ten years’ time,” he said.
“To put that into context, that’s the equivalent of the entire population of the Kingborough municipality all working in the building and construction sector.
“It’s a huge challenge but it’s a great ambition to have. The building and construction sector is literally going to build the Tasmanian economy over the next decade.
“We’re committed to working in partnership with the Tasmanian Government, through our High Vis Army initiative to recruit and train the workforce we need to build Tasmania’s future,” he said.
The High Vis Army, a 2021 state election by the Liberal government, will see $9m over four years provided to Civil Contractors Federation, Master Builders Association (HIA) and Housing Industry Association, with the aim of swelling the workforce by 25 per cent.
Other key takeaways from the Master Builders snapshot included that in December 2022, new home building approvals in were 191, down 33.7 per cent year-on-year, and $22.9m was spent on home renovations, up 51.5 per cent year-on-year.
In the year to September 30, 2022, 3594 new dwellings were built in Tasmania, while an additional 2968 had been commenced but not completed.
HIA’s executive director – Tasmania Stuart Collins said a record number of homes were built in 2020–22, fuelled by low-interest loans and stimulus like the federal government’s HomeBuilder grant program.
However, he foresaw residential construction cooling significantly in the back-end of 2023 amid the ratcheting up of interest rates.
Anecdotally, Mr Collins said, Tasmanian builders were reporting an uptick in customers “handing back” contracts for new builds, citing financial pressures caused by an official interest rate that sits at 3.6 per cent.
He said the cyclical downturn provided opportunities for the sector to cast its mind forwards to future workforce need.
“When you start to see housing come off, that’s when you should be training up the next wave of skilled trades, so you’re ready for the next cycle,” Mr Collins said.
While he lauded the High Vis Army program – HIA provides the YouthBuild program to Year 9 and 10 students in 11 Tasmanian high schools under the program – he said the industry as a whole to think hard about the composition of the future workforce.
“The ‘glorified’ trades are carpentry, plumbing and electrical, but I worry about some of the finishing trades with the ageing workforce,” Mr Collins said.
“We need to make sure we’re addressing where there are deficiencies.”
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