-->
Industry News, Latest News, Professional Services, Queensland

CSQ’s plan to train a $49M tradie army

Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) has released a $49 million training plan to help boost the number of skilled workers to meet high demand.

The plan aims to 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 CEO 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.

“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,” Schimming said.

“These are mainly new houses – often first homes – but there is also a decent amount of home renovation in the mix,” he said.

Related stories:

“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,” Schimming said.

“Yet the number of people in the workforce is well below pre-pandemic levels. There are simply fewer construction workers around.”

“Typically, construction workers are highly mobile, but lockdowns and border closures have capped that flow and effectively capped the size of local workforces.”

The 2021/22 CSQ Training Plan targets all parts of the construction industry including major construction projects to support training on sites. CSQ funding covers most and often all the costs of eligible training.

“CSQ funded training is available for individuals and businesses of all sizes – from small mum and dad trade operators, to huge workforces like those working projects like Queen’s Wharf and Cross River Rail,” Schimming said.

“In regional Queensland, particularly, the role of training and upskilling the existing workforce is essential for major projects like the Cairns Convention Centre and Shoalwater Bay Defence Precinct and the large bodies of residential work across the state.”

Leave a Reply

Send this to a friend