Australian construction industry calls for skilled migration overhaul to ease ‘desperate’ shortage of tradies

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Labour shortage is driving up construction costs and stopping industry from building enough homes to ease housing crisis, Master Builders says

Leading construction bodies are urging the government to change its approach to skilled migration and bring in more migrants to ease the shortage of tradies.

In an April survey of Master Builders members , 85% said it was a struggle to find suitably qualified workers and 66% said sourcing workers was the biggest issue facing the industry.Denita Wawn, the CEO of Master Builders Australia, said the industry was “extraordinarily desperate” for more workers, and that migrants were the answer in the immediate term.

She said construction costs had blown out by 40% since the pandemic, and attributed a large portion of that increase to labour shortages.As part of the changes, a “skills in demand” visa was proposed, but the occupation list did not include any trades. A spokesperson for the home affairs department said the government was currently “considering advice from Jobs and Skills Australia on the Core Skills Occupation List and will release its final decision shortly”.

“Trades prices are running at an annual growth rate of 3.4%, which is much higher than the 2.0% average over the decade prior to the pandemic.”

 

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