The Department of Education, Skills and Employment has published the Job Vacancy data which shows higher vacancy levels for many trades than they were before the COVID outbreak.

Vacancy levels for electricians, have risen for eight consecutive months and now stands at 1, 958-the highest level on record since October 2019. The vacancies for plumbers are also at their highest levels since June 2018 whilst demand for painting trade workers stand at three-year highs. Vacancies for architects, construction manager and various engineering roles are almost back to pre-COVID levels.

Although current levels of construction employment are below those seen during the recent boom in multi-residential development,  the sector has still added more than 100,000 people to its payroll over the past five years.

The data comes amid a boom in detached home building along with resurgent activity levels in civil construction.

On the former issue, a rush to capitalise on the Commonwealth Homebuilder program has seen the approval of almost 40,000 new detached homes over the three months to February – a rate of more than 13,000 homes each month (seasonally adjusted).

The rapid increase has resulted in challenges for builders to secure tradespeople such as concreters, bricklayers, carpenters and others.

Meanwhile, activity continues to ramp up on civil construction thanks to a strong pipeline of road and rail projects.

According to a recruitment industry source the hiring activity has ‘definitely recovered’ to pre-pandemic levels and that skilled tradespeople and professionals are in high demand and the main three factors are driving the increase in the hiring activity.

First, with the halt of international migration, lesser overseas workers have arrived in Australia which puts pressure on the existing workforce. Second, the demand for workers in residential construction and on infrastructure projects have risen. Finally, many builders are playing catch up after long lockdowns. These builders still have the same pre-pandemic contract dates which need to be adhered to and requires workers to ensure deadlines are met.

With the high demand, there is a possible shortage of skilled tradespeople across the board, in particular with boilermakers, carpenters and plumbers.

Shortages are less intense at the professional level, this includes civil & structural engineers, REVIT and BIM designers and modellers, ArchiCAD and AutoCAD technicians and architects, estimators, contract administrators, project managers and site managers.

Source: Link

Date published: 12 April 2021