Workforce capacity and access to skills can have a material impact on major projects, increasing costs and delaying delivery. Labour accounts for approximately 20 per cent of project costs,114 and more for smaller projects.
As demand from the resources sector subsides, more skilled labour is becoming available. This is helping to relieve some long-running skills constraints in other sectors. However, the exchange of personnel from the resource sector may not provide sufficiently or suitably qualified and experienced staff to address all established infrastructure skill constraints. Skills gaps may still emerge in certain specialised occupations and in particular localities. If not addressed, these run the risk of driving up costs and delaying projects.
In conjunction with the slowdown in resource sector opportunities, uncertainty arising from the absence of a clear pipeline of infrastructure projects risks the loss of skills and experience overseas.
In addition, the infrastructure sectors face the loss of important skills and experience as individuals retire. The average age of those working in some infrastructure-related occupations is greater than the average of the workforce at large.
A stable, medium to long-term pipeline of projects would considerably assist in addressing these prospective skills constraints. It would minimise uncertainty:
■ for employers making decisions about retaining and training staff, especially in specialised, technologically-focused occupations such as rail signalling, vehicle telematics and renewable energy; and
■ for employees looking for local opportunities to ensure they are gainfully employed and to ensure that their skills remain current.
There is an opportunity to use the current infrastructure investment phase to build depth in the skills of the infrastructure workforce. The current abatement of skills constraints should be used to take clear and considered steps to foster the availability of the right skills needed to build the nation's future.
A medium-term pipeline of committed projects could be used as a catalyst for skills development and recruitment in the infrastructure sector in Australia.
Audit finding 32. Skills shortages contribute to cost increases for infrastructure construction. Development of an infrastructure pipeline presents an opportunity to develop a better skilled workforce and to minimise skills shortages in the future. |
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114. Productivity Commission (2014a)