GENERAL NEWS
THE construction industry will need to attract around half a million workers by later 2026, and a major industry body...
Master Builders Australia has released a blueprint for future-proofing the building and construction workforce. Its analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data on...
Nearly half of the required workforce – 229,000 workers – will be in technician and trade roles, the vast majority of...
“Construction is the backbone of the Australian economy, employing approximately 1.3 million people, providing infrastructure, commercial and...
“With Australia’s population projected to grow by over 50% between 2022 and 2060, reaching nearly 40 million people...
“The nature of work in the industry is evolving due to increasing business specialisation, more offsite building, frequent job changes...
“Understanding the emerging and future workforce skills needs is critical for ensuring flexible pathways in the...
The blueprint aims to address attracting new workers into the industry, retaining current and emerging workers, and...
Wawn said this includes addressing the bias pushing young people toward university at the expense of VET...
“Critically, this includes improving the quality of careers education in secondary and senior secondary schools...
The blueprint report cited the 2019 Expert Review of Australia’s VET System, in which Steven Joyce noted that...
“Fewer young people aspire to undertake vocational education courses. Many consider VET as less prestigious and only for students who are of...
“This new agreement needs to adequately fund and resource schools to deliver comprehensive, unbiased, and up-to-date careers education to...
“To promote the value and potential of Australian apprenticeship pathways to young people, their parents and careers advisors Master Builders advocates the...
Improving gender diversity in the workforce was also a focus of the blueprint. Just 13.3% of workers in the industry are female.
Master Builders said initiatives such as its own Women Building Australia program are “helping to dispel misperceptions about the industry...
“These efforts are translating into more women in construction training pathways,” it said. In the year to the end of...
“Master Builders encourages the government to think outside the narrow lens of gender targets for individual projects to identify options that...