Good News for Tradespeople
 

Skills shortages mean big bucks...

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...55E421,00.html

Trade skills now paying top dollars
By Fleur Anderson
October 19, 2004

ELECTRICIANS, welders, boilermakers, plumbers and other skilled tradespeople are snapping up $100,000- plus jobs as Australia's skills shortage impacts on wages.

Trades
Tool man ... there's big money to be made from traditional trades.
Tradespeople in some areas across Australia earn more than some doctors, dentists, architects and teachers.

Business groups have estimated Australia needs 21,000 extra tradespeople to solve the national crisis.

The shortage of tradespeople has hit household budgets, with the cost of trade contractors up 12.5 per cent in just 12 months, a Housing Industry Association report found.

And the crisis could have implications for interest rates.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Hendy said the lack of qualified workers was the biggest hurdle for business for the first time in 14 years.

"There is some anecdotal evidence that there is pressure building on wages across the board," Mr Hendy said.

"It's not showing in the official numbers like the Australian Bureau of Statistics yet but the Reserve Bank and Treasury are all watching for the impact wages will have on inflation and interest rates.

"But I can say that anecdotally we are hearing stories about higher wages because of the shortage of skills."

Last weekend metropolitan newspapers carried job vacancies advertising $100,000-a-year packages for airconditioning electricians and $70,000 annual salaries for kitchen cabinet installers.

A recent Housing Industry of Australia report found ceramic tilers' prices were more than 20 per cent higher in the year to June, followed by an 18.3 per cent rise in builders' rates and 12.5 per cent rise in carpenters' costs.

Plumbers' and brickies' rates were more than 11 per cent more expensive.

Landscapers' rates were 10.9 per cent higher over the year to June while roofing rose just 1.5 per cent and plastering up 4.8 per cent.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout said a shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry was making trade costs more expensive.

Unless the problem was solved the skills shortage would hurt the Australian economy, she said.

Ms Ridout said some apprenticeships should be reduced from four years to at least 2 1/2 and qualifications based on competency rather than a set period of time as an apprentice.

An AiG report found one in two firms could not find skilled labour and the largest number of vacancies was in the metal industry.

Among the states the report found Queensland firms had the biggest problems, with 70 per cent of firms reporting difficulties finding skilled workers.

In NSW, 53 per cent of businesses experienced problems and 47 per cent in Victoria.

In Queensland, electrical appliance service people and industrial electricians are swamped with work.

The Courier-Mail

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

"The biggest problem for young people, according to one study, is that the wages of apprentices are about half those of people starting out in unskilled jobs such as retailing."

Fixing the trade skills shortage

Who is insisting that apprentices are so poorly paid?

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

We were talking about this on Adelaidebrits a while back. Apparently, one of the reasons this has come about, is due to the Australian youth not wanting to get into work that gets hteir hands dirty and preferring to go for university education. This is one of the big reasons theres such a shortage.
Thinking about it though, its probably quite prevalent in many western countries including UK.
Hmmmm... i'm looking for a career change... would a monkey wrench and a trowel match my shoes? :D :p

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

There is money to be made but a couple of points ..

The award wage for many trades is only $20-22 and hour its only the current demand (from the boom) for new housing thats pushed the rates up, three years ago you could pay blokes $25 easily now its $35. If the market went backwards so would the wages again.

Another factor, is the incredible amount of training complaince and legislation and liability applicable to trades people now as opposed to even year 2000, many older blokes are giving up too complicated, youngies dont want the hassle of liability and Climate burns most blokes out by 45 its incredibly hard work, not many want to sign up these days, probably why 1000's of trade apprentiships are going unfilled. The temp in/on a roof in summer or pouring concrete will be 60 degrees with the reflection, bricklaying in my opinion is no differnt to breaking rocks in the desert, they earn what they get here.

Usually the blokes making the $100,000+ are the contractors, with all the associated overheads, they dont pay that to the blokes they employ, but its still very good money for australia, dammned hard graft tho.

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

Would have thought that a reduced supply of apprentices would result in increased apprentice wages. Shortage of qualified trades people has resulted in an increase in their rates.

So are qualified tradies conspiring to keep out competition from the young? Or is it just that the apprentice system is rotten - that tradies can not afford to pay competitive wages due to the risk that the apprentice will qualify and set up in competition?

Would full-time TAFE education result in competent tradies and be a realistic alternative to apprenticeships?

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

In this case its not that complicated, kids simply dont want the jobs, we constantly try to get apprentices, kids just dont want it, you grew up here? would you want to hammer away or bricklay in our climate :confused:

Personally I think on the job training is essential, theres only so much you can learn in a classroom, you need them on the job to really 'get' it.

Dont really think older blokes worry about the competition, if we had more people applying for the jobs the wages would come down, projects would be completed without so many delays, would be very cost effective.

We did a spot at one of the big high schools career evenings at question time the general response from kids about building apprentiships was "get #$%&ed mate why would I want to earn a living like that :scared:

Cant say I blame them honestly tho :D

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

I was told that when the temps go over a certain point, workers are sent home? I know a couple of the builders and tradespeople working here do that.

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

I read somewhere that one issue is that alot of the jobs were priced in on contracts a few years ago and even though the costs have risen, the companes are tied in at that cost. This means that the employer is still trying to pay as little as possible for labour to keep costs to a minimum, as they are losing out big time in some cases. This can see the contractors get the money as they have no ties, but full time employees of the companies get screwed due to cost cutting to pay for these contracts which were priced a few years back.

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

Did you ask for what money they could be arsed?

(Done my bit - harvesting in 40+C temps covered in wheat/barley/oats dust, mineral exploration in summer tropics. Making a quid from trades too tough for me now.)

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

:confused: Never seen a job sent home for temps in my life not hi-rise not houses never. High winds, danger but not heat. Union jobs included.

But Ive never worked in Adelaide, temps in summer down there would soar above Queenslands perhaps thats why.

Up here and when I was in Vic you work till you drop and drop some do!!

Its sort of hard to envisage really, in most states you'd have to stop working for a big chunk of the year.

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

Aussie kids are brought up on a diet of playstation, TV, fast food, DVD's and pampering parents, they dont make them like they used to! Getting the hands dirty and manual labour is simply not appealing any more.

God I sound old now :D

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

I'm Maintenance Supervisor for a large food manufacturer. My day shift guys rate is $25.20 hr + 192hrs/year annualised O/T it works out at about $60,000/ year. They get paid O/T when they have worked the 192 hrs. Afternoon shift get 15% extra and night shift get 30% extra as shift premium. The night shift guys earn $70,000 basic and if they work loads of O/T they can get up around the $85,000 mark. They also get one RDO per month and a union picnic day :rolleyes: Guess what.... they are the biggest bunch of whinging gits i have ever had the misfortune to work with :mad: If i was one of their kids the last thing i would want to do is a trades career.

.........I fell better now :D

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

Working in the food trade myself(butcher) i would be very happy to have to "put up with"(irony) ;) the above mentioned rates.Only recently have the understanding that the trades are the blood in the veins of commerce been realised.












9

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

My view on the lack of apprentices is fairly simple firstly every child is encouraged to stay on at school and get good grades, they are willed by parents to go to uni and study. Back in the U.K the govt. and the school teachers want to get 80% [I think that was the quoted figure] of kids to go to uni. Why? I think because teachers teach they want kids to stay in school and the govt. want kids to stay on at school as it manipulates the unemployment figures. :confused:
Secondly I think kids are just to lazy and spoilt they've been taught since at least the mid 80's that computers are the way to earn good money and there will be all these nice clean jobs paying big bucks sitting at a terminal. I didn't have a decent apprentice for ages in the U.K, the last I had was a recently paroled violent crim. He was really keen, very hard working and eager to please. Only trouble was if he had a drink it was a bender and ended in a pub brawl and a night in the cells, thick as a plank in that respect. ;)

Re: Good News for Tradespeople
 

I totally agree with you, and recent studies bare that out. There are far too many young graduates out there with pieces of paper saying how clever they are in a particular field, but theres now so many of them that they can't find that " big bucks for nothing" job nowadays. I reckon the cleverer teenagers out there might find it very lucrative to learn a master trade and get very good at it. In the next 10years or so they will be worth a fortune.