[+] Visas and Vacancies: Migration’s Role in Construction Skills Shortage

As Australia grapples with the ongoing and escalating housing crisis, migration has become a hot topic in the sector and beyond. The value of migration to the property industry is much debated—for some, it increases competition for housing, for others it’s a welcome source of investment that hopefully will flow on to create new rental properties. And it has also become the focus of a conversation around solving the crisis—that migrant labour can end the construction skills shortage and help build the homes we need. The skills shortage Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn says the data is straightforward. “The data speaks for itself,” Wawn says. “Labour shortages are currently the biggest handbrake on new home building and infrastructure projects.” She points out that as with any industry, there are workers who leave who need to be replaced. “Despite a sizeable workforce of 1.35 million, there is an annual exit rate of 8 per cent,” Wawn says. “Currently, growth is 4.1 per cent, or 53,170 people a year. This is half what is required simply to stand still.” The official estimate from Master Builders is that half a million new workers will be needed during the next five years. BuildSkills Australia, a Federally funded organisation with a broad member base across employer groups and unions, says that 90,000 new workers are needed right now. That exit rate is also worrying the Australian Constructors Association chief executive Jon Davies. “At a time when industry productivity is at its lowest in 60 years, the demand for construction workers has never been higher,” Davies says. “Just 12 per cent of the construction workforce are women, highlighting a significant underutilisation of half of the potential workforce, and more people are leaving the industry than joining it. “If the construction industry is to survive and thrive, we need to find ways to attract more people into the industry, keep them in the industry for longer and deliver more projects with them when they are working.” ▲ Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn says the country needs another half a million construction workers over the next five years. But not everyone agrees that there is a shortage and that the skills actually required are the ones being highlighted. CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith says employer groups such as Master Builders are wrong when they say the sector is suffering from acute labour shortages. “The data simply doesn’t back up [that],” he says. “The most in-demand job in the sector is construction managers—not people on the tools building the homes, offices and infrastructure Australia needs. “The vast majority of building and construction-related jobs have an indicative vacancy rate below 1 per cent.” That data is from the CFMEU itself and compares labour data compiled by Jobs and Skills Australia against the number of vacancies posted online, also from Jobs and Skills Australia. Jobs and Skills Australia was set up by the Federal Government “to provide independent advice on current, emerging and future workforce, skills and training needs”. The union found via that data that for many professions, job vacancies listed were below 1 per cent of the number already employed in that profession. For example, of the 30,000 bricklayers and stonemasons employed, only 111 job ads were found, meaning a vacancy rate of 0.37 per cent. Construction managers topped the list with 127,300 people employed and 3659 job ads listed for a vacancy rate of 2.8 per cent. Vacancy rate data for construction professions Profession People employed Job ads Indicative vacancy rate Bricklayers and stonemasons 30,000 111 0.4% Carpenters and joiners 141,500 974 0.7% Floor finishers 10,100 36 0.4% Painting tradesworkers 53,500 575 1.1% Glaziers 8800 104 1.2% Plasterers 27,600 56 0.2% Roof tilers 8400 74 0.9% Wall and floor tilers 20,700 104 0.5% Plumbers 147,800 1199 0.8% Building and plumbing labourers 70,500 936 1.3% Concreters 36,500 154 0.4% Fencers 11,700 36 0.3% Insulation and home improvement installers 27,200 88 0.3% Structural steel construction workers 22,600 363 1.6% Construction managers 127,300 3,659 2.8% ^ Source: Jobs and Skills Australia Occupations and Internet Vacancy reports, via CFMEU Skilled migration Regardless, the skills shortfalls has prompted the Federal Government to put building and construction trade occupations on the draft skilled-migration list. Space was made in this year’s Federal Budget to prioritise skill assessments however other concerns, such as financial barriers and training to remove skills gaps, have also been raised. Wawn says, “Skilled migration is a vital piece of the workforce puzzle in the building and construction industry. “In the short-term, we cannot address labour shortages through domestic apprenticeships alone. “We hope the Government urgently reconsiders the draft skilled-migration list by placing all building and construction trade occupations on the list. “These are the very people we need to attract to build the homes we desperately need.” Currently, carpenters who are also joiners, electricians and some other trades are on the list but Wawn says that all 40 trades required to build and finish a house should be listed. Master Builders has said that the Federal Government has made a misstep in differentiating highly paid trade workers from white-collar counterparts by not including tradespeople on the Specialist Skills pathway for the proposed Skills in Demand visa. Skilled trade workers cannot currently enter the country through the Essential Skills or the Specialist Skills pathway. Master Builders is lobbying for them to be included. ▲ Construction workers union CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith says the skilled workers shortage is not real according to Jobs and Skills Australia’s data. But the CFMEU has a different take. “In Master Builders’ fantasy land, the so-called tradie shortage only has one solution—a massive increase in temporary migration,” Smith says. The union is concerned that pushing for migrant workers to come will lead to more exploitation of the migrant workers and their local counterparts. “These groups should be absolutely ashamed of faking a crisis to undercut the wages and conditions workers in our industry deserve,” Smith says. “Time and time again our union has exposed wage theft, sham contracting and other exploitative practices that hurt migrant and local tradies.” Wawn isn’t convinced. “To suggest that every plumber, brickie or carpenter wanting to enter Australia should be turned away and all employers are exploiting workers is outrageous,” Wawn says. “Closing the door to all skilled migrants is not the solution. “There are rules and regulations in place to protect workers from exploitation in Australia and Master Builders supports the full enforcement of these laws.” But Smith says the current laws and organisations set up to protect worker rights and stop exploitation are not working. “Unfortunately, government watchdogs have either been hostile to workers or simply not done enough to protect their rights.” The CFMEU has supported the Federal Government’s plans to boost skills training with funding allocated for such programs within the recent Budget but recently said it would withdraw its support from the recently formed Build Skills Australia, saying it had not been an impartial source of information to the Government and instead only supported the views of employer associations. 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