TRADES ARE ATTRACTING WORKERS FROM A BROAD DEMOGRAPHIC
PAY packets are growing across many trades and it is not just the usual people snapping up the roles.
Applicants of all ages, genders, cultures and educational backgrounds are coming to the sector, in search of work that is in high demand.
SEEK data reveals the trades and services roles with the highest pay in the 2018-19 financial year, based on average advertised salaries, were airconditioning and refrigeration mechanics ($83,278), electricians ($82,782) and fitters, turners and machinists ($79,170).
Airconditioning and refrigeration mechanics also had the strongest salary growth, up 7.7 per cent.
They were followed by fitters, turners and machinists, as well as welders and boilermakers, each occupation up 7.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, National Centre for Vocational Education Research data shows the type of people interested in trade careers is becoming more diverse.
There were 7.6 per cent more females commencing a trade apprenticeship in the March quarter than a year earlier, as well as 10.7 per cent more indigenous Australians, 11.4 per cent more people aged 25 to 44, 11.7 per cent more people with a disability, and 19 per cent more people who already held a bachelor degree.
Porter Davis Homes group building manager Rhodes Mackenzie says tradespeople have become a much more varied group.
“I’d say the stereotypical Aussie tradie is a 25-year-old male, chippy, Anglo (Saxon), amateur football player,” he says.
“Once upon a time this may have been the case, but now we’re seeing more of a melting pot of different people. People from diverse cultures contribute new ways of thinking, (new) language skills and different experiences.
“Gender diversity is also important as again, different people bring different qualities and skillsets to a role.”
Mining and construction support company Hastings Deering received a record 2177 applications for its 2020 intake of 75 boilermakers, fitter machinists, auto electricians, electricians, engine reconditioners and mechanical fitters. Diesel fitting was the most popular trade, with almost 1400 applications received for these apprenticeships alone.
More than a third of all applicants (35 per cent) were 21 or older, 13 per cent were women and 12 per cent were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Hastings Deering people and external affairs general manager Vincent Cosgrove says the company’s diverse demographic is representative of the communities they work in.
“In the past we have had students with an OP 1 apply because they want to be hands-on in a job,” he says.
“There have been a few who have started a course at university, like engineering, who then decide an apprenticeship is a more preferable pathway. Some have joined the navy or the army and then opt out.”
The company employs more than 3000 people.