The future is built by tradies

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has released a report titled Australia’s Future is Built by Tradies, which highlights a shortage of around 83,000 skilled workers across the residential construction industry.

According to the report, Australia cannot solve its housing shortage without first addressing its tradie shortage. The workforce shortages are slowing housing delivery, increasing construction costs and making it harder to improve housing affordability.

HIA Managing Director Jocelyn Martin says every housing target ultimately depends on having enough skilled people available to build those homes.

“Tradies build our homes, maintain our communities and help Australians recover after natural disasters, yet the industry is facing significant workforce shortages at a time when demand for housing continues to grow,” she says.

Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance also released the 2026 National Manufacturing Workforce Plan this week, identifying the occupations that are critical to manufacturing which remain on the national occupation shortage list.

The numbers are even higher in the Workforce Plan, stating the sector’s demand for skilled workers is projected to grow by an additional 91,300 by 2035.

However, that number represents only workforce growth and does not capture the additional demand created by retirements and workforce attrition over the next decade.

Key findings in the Plan include:

• The ageing workforce remains a structural capability risk and an opportunity
• Emerging skills and technologies are changing the capability required across manufacturing
• Manufacturing remains a major employer with projected workforce growth to 2035
• Workforce diversity remains both a persistent challenge and an opportunity
• Apprenticeships remain the most immediate pipeline risk.

Across the manufacturing sectors covered by the Plan, the workforce is projected to grow by 12.3 per cent by 2035 to 831,100 workers, with most of the growth expected in trade and technical roles.

Much of the growth depends on apprenticeships, and recent data shows fewer people are taking up these opportunities. Shortages in trade and technician occupations are persistently hard to fill because the training takes three or four years to complete.

Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance CEO Sharon Robertson says manufacturing is growing, and the roles it needs most are the ones that take the longest to train.

The HIA report identifies five priority areas for action:

• Elevate the status of trade careers
• Improve apprenticeship attraction and completion
• Support the builders who train Australia’s workforce
• Strengthen school-to-trade pathways
• Invest in workforce capacity.

Martin says trade careers offer secure employment, strong earning potential and pathways to business ownership.

“The solution is not moving workers from one sector to another,” she says. “It is increasing the number of skilled people entering and completing trade careers.

If we want to achieve our national objectives … we need a larger and stronger workforce.”

Feature image courtesy of HIA.

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