$49m skills plan as state hits construction ‘overdrive’

Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) has unveiled a $49 million plan to boost skilled workers to meet unprecedented demand. The plan will provide funded training for apprentices, tradies, small businesses, and large construction projects to deliver $50 billion worth of construction work that is forecast for the next 12 months. CSQ chief executive officer Brett Schimming said Queensland’s construction industry would be under intense pressure over the next 12 months, with a surge in house building demand and escalating commercial and infrastructure activity. Mr Schimming said HomeBuilder and other government incentives announced in response to COVID had thrown the construction activity into overdrive. “Queenslanders have borrowed over $16 billion for construction-related purposes since June last year, which has resulted in $11 billion in new house building approvals – a new record,” Mr Schimming said. “These are mainly new houses – often first homes – but there is also a decent amount of home renovation in the mix. “Government infrastructure commitments are also at decade-highs with $12 billion of outstanding civil works on the books in Queensland. “It’s a perfect storm of demand, but there simply aren’t enough construction workers on the ground to meet this demand.” CSQ estimates that Queensland’s construction industry is operating at 20 per cent over capacity. “There is a voracious appetite for talent out there. The industry’s unemployment rate is close to 3 per cent and job advertisements are 80 per cent above normal levels. “Yet the number of people in the workforce is well below pre-pandemic levels. There are simply fewer construction workers around.” CSQ believes COVID travel restrictions have grounded workers. “Typically, construction workers are highly mobile, but lockdowns and border closures have capped that flow and effectively capped the size of local workforces," Mr Schimming said. “CSQ is putting the call out to trade and site workers, and sub-contractors, to add to your skill set, get new work tickets and take advantage of this opportunity. “We are going to need a trade army to get through this volume of work.” Mr Schimming said CSQ had already recorded an increase in demand for training. “CSQ has already registered a significant increase in our training enrolments, and we’ve seen record growth in employment of apprentices," he said. “More than 4,000 new apprentices were employed across Queensland in the last quarter of 2020 – that’s a 150 per cent increase on the same quarter in the previous year. “This means there are now more than 22,000 construction apprentices in-training across Queensland - the highest number ever recorded." The 2021/22 CSQ Training Plan targets all parts of the construction industry including major construction projects to support seamless training on sites. CSQ funding covers most and often all the costs of eligible training. 2021-22 ATP INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS BOOSTED CSQ PROGRAMS*PATHWAY PROGRAMS$2.7M (25% increase)BUILDING PROGRAMS$19M ($5M increase)CIVIL PROGRAMS$8.5M (47% increase)SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT$1.25M (25% increase)SHORT COURSES INCL. SAFETY$14.3M ($4.7M increase)INDUSTRY WELLBEING$2.2M (40% increase)TOTAL TRAINING PLAN$48.6M ($6.6M increase)

$49m skills plan as state hits construction ‘overdrive’

Industry Queensland

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