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Hiring reluctance threatens resources and infrastructure skills pipeline

Employer reluctance to hire less experienced candidates, coupled with a looming wave of retirements, are leaving the resources and infrastructure sectors at risk of a critical skills shortage, particularly for engineers, the latest Clarius Skills Index finds.

Executive General Manager of Clarius’ Engineering and Building Services division, Phil Desmet, said employers are seeking candidates with recent local experience and few, if any, are being flexible about these requirements.

“While employers require staff to have the latest technical skill sets and knowledge, it can be a challenge to find the right candidates, but most industry upskilling and training traditionally takes place on-the-job,” Mr Desmet said.

“Given more than 290,000 of engineers and related occupations are nearing retirement, new recruits need to be training now to ensure the industry avoids a major skills gap in the future,”

The September quarter Clarius Skills Index, shows the gap between supply and demand of skilled labour has eased for building, engineering and tradespeople amid uncertainty around Australia’s current and future economic conditions.

Building and Engineering Professionals received a balanced Index reading of 99.8 in the September quarter, and Building and Engineering Associate Professionals eased to 99.7 – both with an oversupply of 400 workers.

Mr Desmet said the high cost of contract labour and uncertainty about the impact of the carbon tax appears to have put off some investment decisions to finance building and engineering projects.

“Given the general downturn in activity, employers are reluctant to commit to hire and are being more selective,” he said.