According to the Index, the Construction, Engineering and Building Professions and Trades occupations were already experiencing a skills shortage, with an estimated shortage of approximately 6,000 Construction Tradespeople and 1,000 Associate Professionals in the June quarter.
This resulted in a 101.7 Index for Construction Tradespeople, 100.8 Index for Associate Professionals. The Index for Building and Engineering Professionals on the other hand moderated over the quarter, although it remains noticeably higher than this time last year at 100.1.
There were 178,000 Building and Engineering Professionals employed in the June quarter, expanded from 170,000 in the March quarter.
The Clarius Skills Index - developed by KPMG Econtech - is the only measure of the supply and demand of skilled labour in Australia. A score of 100 in the Index indicates equal tension between supply and demand.
Phil Desmet, Executive General Manager of Clarius’ Engineering and Building Services division, SouthTech, said the Building and Construction industry had experienced the biggest gap between supply and demand across the 20 occupational categories measured in the index.
“The number of Building and Engineering projects underway across Australia has increased employment opportunities and demand for skilled labour to a point where there is now a shortage,” Mr Desmet said.
"There’s no question that while Australia’s unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level since early 2009, skills shortages are a major concern for the Building and Engineering sector.
“Obviously this has been helped along by the Government’s Building Education Revolution (BER) stimulus and a recovery in the residential building sector."
Mr Desmet said a strong underlying demand for housing was expected to drive further expansion in residential investment over the medium-term, with labour demand likely to increase over the new financial year.
There was significant disparity in the availability of skilled trades’ people.
“In the June quarter there were approximately 387,000 Construction Tradespersons demanded, and only 381,000 supplied – resulting in a shortfall of about 6,000 workers across the sector,” Mr Desmet said.
“This shortage is likely to widen as the residential construction sector recovers from the economic slowdown and the Building Education Revolution stimulus spending continues.
“However in NSW, the sector is not as optimistic of growth, meaning that they are preferring to employ contractors rather than permanent staff to reduce potential risks.”
The Clarius Skills Index is Australia’s first ever National skills index that measures the extent of skilled labour shortages or oversupply across 20 occupation categories, using labour force data supplied by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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