‘Critical shortages': Tradie shortfall puts pressure on 1.2m housing target

News.com.au

4 hours ago

Australian tradies are cashing in on a chronic shortage of workers leading to a spike in wages, but it's not good news for Australia's ambitious housing target.
Research by HR platform Employment Hero shows construction and trade services remains one of the most in demand sectors, with the median salary for workers jumping 7.8 per cent to $51.30.
But these high wages aren't leading to more houses being built with data from the ABS showing productivity in the construction sector remains shockingly low with hours falling and new houses getting built stalling.
The ABS monthly business turnover indicator for April 2025 shows that the construction sector experienced a 1.1 per cent decline in turnover.
This means businesses are facing a double whammy of costs going up and output falling leading to falling revenue.
Employment Hero chief executive Ben Thompson told NewsWire a lack of qualified workers is putting pressure on the system.
'There's definitely an undersupply of workers, at the same time there's high demand,' he said.
'We offer recruitment services so we can actually see the ratio of candidates to hiring demand, with construction having a critical under supply of workers.'
Employment Hero's research follows the Albanese government's pledge in its first term to build 1.2m new homes by June 2029 to help ease the high costs of getting a home.
But at the National Press Club last week, the Prime Minister conceded it was currently 'too hard' to build a home in Australia.
The federal government's advisory body, the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (NHSAC), forecasts 938,000 dwellings will be built nationwide by mid-2029, 262,000 below the target.
Mr Thompson said younger Australians needed to see the benefits of learning a trade to help offset some of these costs and reach the government's targets.
'We need to get more people trained up and skilled to enter the workforce, we need to articulate the benefits of being a tradie including purpose, flexibility and higher wages,' he said.
'We need to make it easier and faster to get qualified.'
Mr Thompson said Australia could tap into past successes to help solve the current housing crisis.
'It goes back to the past successes like the Snowy Hydro Scheme,' he said.
'Australia was very effective at importing skilled labour to pull off major infrastructure developments.
'Right now there's a critical shortage of homes and a critical shortage skills to build them, so why wouldn't we go back to importing skilled labour to get the job done.'
Without it Mr Thompson warned more pressure would fall on businesses, which would only add to the problem.
'Overall we are paying more for trade labour, getting less output and are struggling to meet these ambitious housing targets,' he said.