Million-Worker Shortage Looms in Australia's Construction Industry

Australia's construction industry is sounding the alarm about an impending workforce shortage that could reach almost one million workers by 2035, according to a new report by Master Builders Australia.

The report found that if no changes are made, the annual worker deficit of 85,100 will snowball to approximately 935,600 in less than a decade. Even under an optimistic scenario where bold policy is applied, there will still be an estimated shortfall of about 84,100 workers by 2035.

The gap was attributed to a 'structural mismatch' between the training pipeline capacity and the workforce required to support $242 billion worth of infrastructure projects over five years and the multi-decade net-zero transition. Master Builders found that changes to migration settings could unlock 18,400 qualified workers already living in Australia.

Michele Bullock warned it may take a rise in unemployment for inflation to be brought back down. Denita Wawn, Master Builders chief executive, said 'migration remains an essential part of the solution, but it cannot replace the need to rebuild Australia's domestic skills pipeline.'