Where are the workers?

WeSterN AUStrALIA IS KNOWN AS A bOOm bUSt StAte, ALtHOUGH It NOW SeemS tHe reSt OF tHe COUNtrY HAVe JOINeD tHe pArtY. ONe tHING We ALL WANt IN tHe INDUStrY tHOUGH, Are tHe beSt trAINING OUtCOmeS – GrOWING A COmpeteNt AND prODUCtIVe WOrKFOrCe. CONSIDerING tHe WA SItUAtION FOr CONteXt, Let’S LOOK At tHe DAtA, AND See IF It’S LeADING US tO tHAt OUtCOme.

In July 2017, there were nearly 38,000 people in Western Australia that held an electrical licence. Natural attrition in industry led to around 3,800 workers leaving the trade. In this corresponding period, there were around 3,000 apprentices in training, with an expectation that around 700 of those would complete and become licensed that year. What do these stats tell us?

In 2017, we graduated less than a quarter of the workforce we needed just to match demand. Five years on, what’s changed?

While the pandemic has had a profound impact on the way we work and live, one thing it didn’t change was historically low rates of participation in the trades. being an electrician is one of the most popular career pathways, with 1 in 3 workers in the construction industry an electrician. It’s one of the reasons that electricians are carved out of reporting figures in many jurisdictions. Yet from 2015 to 2020, that participation rate dropped. Figures from the National Centre for Vocational education research (NCVer) have clearly demonstrated this trend is not unique to electrical.

politics aside, prior to the pandemic, there were fewer school leavers choosing to do a trade than needed to meet any industry’s needs for a skilled workforce. Cue the ‘skilled migration’ argument.

Yet in 2022, attracting skilled migrants is near on impossible. Why? every country in the western world is facing the same challenges: an aging workforce, less interest from school leavers and a massively stimulated construction environment driving demand for workers.

About now, you’re probably asking what the figures are for this year? Just under 36,000 people hold an electrical licence. Apprentices in training - 4,500. So, a decrease of 5% in electricians, but an increase in apprentices of around 50%. Surely that will fix the problem.

Not quite. As an industry, we would need to complete 500 more apprentices a year for the next four years to get us back to where we were in 2017, assuming that is, no one actually leaves the trade in the next four years. History tells us that’s not going to happen. We are not only going backwards, but it’s also going to be a problem for some time. As proof, the West Australian recently reported, “building and construction apprenticeship commencements have more than doubled over the last two years to reach 2,708 in may, while electrical apprenticeship commencements have also nearly doubled to 2,232 in the same period. there are now more than 10,000 tradies and electrical apprentices currently engaged in WA – an all-time record.

Despite the strong training figures, the most recent job vacancy figures found there were 13,200 more positions available in WA than there were unemployed West Australians in June.” (Skilled worker shortage: New register to help lure workers from around world to WA, Josh Zimmerman, the West Australian tue, 19 July 2022 8:12 am). So what outcome are we looking for? If it’s a competent and productive workforce, the data is telling us, and has done so for some time, we’re not getting it right. Now is the time to invest in what we already know - the apprenticeship journey starts in Years 7-10; build the links between science, technology engineering and maths (Stem) and the vocational outcomes we see in trades. We can’t just push ‘do maths’ if you want to be a sparky. We need the students starting in Year 7 to know that being able to apply Stem in your job brings rewards, both financially and personally.

As proof of that, the two finalists in the NeCA WA excellence Awards Innovation Category this year, both showed how Stem is being utilised in the environmental social and governance (eSG) and electricity supply industry (eSI) fields. real world application of Stem skills.

Until we as an industry invest in the pathways to our trade, we will continue to face trade shortages, especially when we need the workers the most.

Steve Hall

General Manager, College of Electrical Training