Anthony Albanese announces $10,000 apprenticeship incentive to boost housing construction workforce

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a $10,000 payment scheme for electrical, plumbing, and carpentry apprentices in a bid to boost the workforce. Executive Director of the Apprenticeship Employment Network Gary Workman says any incentive for people to get into trades has the potential to address the country's skills shortages.

Transcript

00:00Skill shortages have been a problem in Australia for a long time, not just the construction

00:06sector, but all over the place.

00:09And I think COVID highlighted some of those really critical shortages that we have in

00:14things like health and retail and building construction.

00:19This announcement today is a really good step.

00:21It's not going to solve our problem in the short term.

00:24This was a pre-election promise, but I think long term if we can provide more incentives

00:29and more reasons for young people to look at trade apprenticeships and other pathways

00:34outside of university, that will help with our skill shortages.

00:38But again, it's something that we've got to consistently do over the next four to five

00:42years.

00:43What do you think about how this $10,000 incentive has been structured, the five $2,000 installments

00:50over the duration of an apprenticeship?

00:52Do you think that will nudge up completion rates and encourage people to stay on in their

00:56apprenticeships?

00:58I think that's one of the reasons it was designed that way.

01:01So completion rates have always hovered around 50, 55% and the cost for a young person is

01:07always an issue when you're doing an apprenticeship in the first couple of years.

01:10So staggering those payments over five payments and having a completion payment is a bit of

01:17a financial incentive that may sort of attract and keep young people in their trade to get

01:21fully qualified.

01:22There is a similar scheme for green jobs apprenticeships that is in place.

01:27The take-up hasn't been strong there though, it's well below what the government was hoping

01:31for.

01:32Are you optimistic that young tradies-to-be will sign on to this scheme?

01:37I think once we've broadened it out to traditional trade areas like plumbing, carpentry, electrical,

01:42those numbers and the 60,000 placements that they're sort of estimating, I think they'll

01:47be certainly well taken up.

01:49With the clean energy, there was quite a narrow field of qualifications that were eligible

01:53and a lot of those projects and programs are usually short term in the construction phases,

02:00but they're also not traditional apprenticeship pathways historically.

02:04So the numbers were lower in that and again, I think this is a step in the right direction,

02:08broadening it to all construction sectors.

02:11For established tradies in Australia, if you're running your own business, for example, there

02:16is good money to be made, but what are wages like for apprentices and people just starting

02:21out in the industry?

02:24Look, I think our system was designed to attract young people leaving secondary school or very

02:30early in their age progression in their career, like 16, 17, 18 year olds, and the wages in

02:37our IR system were designed to reflect that.

02:40In reality today, the average age of a starting apprentice is 22, 23 years of age and for

02:46female apprentices, it's even a lot older.

02:48So they've got higher expenses, living costs, they've got more responsibilities when they're

02:54that age, so the wage incentives to help sort of understand and reflect those changes in

03:00the economy today, I think is a good step.

03:03This cash bonus announced today is limited to residential construction.

03:07We know there are other adjacent trades crucial to housing in a more indirect way, roads,

03:12rail, sewerage.

03:14Would you like to see the scope of this widened to include more industry?

03:19You're spot on.

03:20We think all skill shortage industries should be able to attract a wage subsidy for even

03:25things like traineeships, business administration, health and care sector, the IT sector.

03:31It's not just construction that's struggling with skill shortages and issues with future

03:37workforce needs.

03:38So I think the same conditions in the other sectors in terms of attracting young people

03:44and giving them a head start with their career and supporting their wages is important.

03:49So that's something we'll be pushing going forward up to the election.

03:52I wanted to ask you, Gary, just about attitudes towards trades more generally.

03:56I mean, traditionally, young people have been told to aim for university.

04:00Do you think that we are seeing a shift in attitude and a renewed appreciation for the

04:05value of tradespeople in our workforce?

04:09I think certainly since COVID, I think that's certainly been in the media a lot more and

04:13young people are questioning, what am I going to do for the next few years?

04:17I'd certainly like to see our secondary school systems provide more opportunity for young

04:23people to try careers and get real life work experience before they have to make a four

04:29year commitment to something, whether that's university or an apprenticeship.

04:33I think that's one of the reasons we're seeing really low completion rates in everything

04:37our youth does.

04:38So I think they have a very narrow view of what the career pathways are, what does the

04:44job really look like?

04:46And I think we've got to spend more time giving young people an opportunity to explore that

04:50before they have to make a decision.

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