FROM THE CEO
INNOVATIVE TRAINING MODELS KEY TO AUSTRALIA’S CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION Australia’s skilled welder shortage has reached critical levels. Industry is already at capacity, with Weld Australia’s members turning away projects because they cannot find enough welders to complete the work. We have known for some time now that Australia will have a shortfall of at least 70,000 welders by 2030. Alarmingly, this projected shortfall of welders does not account for Australia’s move from carbon fuelled power generation to a renewable energy system. To combat this skills shortage, innovative training solutions are required. Geoff Crittenden (CEO, Weld Australia)
The results of our 2022 Member Survey indicate that skills shortages have reached critical levels. When asked what they are most concerned about, 64% of senior managers cited lack of skilled staff in an extremely constrained recruitment market. With a considerable volume of work being onshored in the wake of international supply chain disruptions, most Australian fabrication companies are so strapped for skilled welders that they are working at anywhere between 30% and 50% of their full capacity. They are being forced to turn down jobs because they simply don’t have the manpower to complete the work. This is having a major impact on production and causing delays throughout downstream industries including building and construction, mining, oil and gas, and manufacturing. It is little wonder that half of survey respondents have a pipeline of work that extends for six months or longer—this protracted pipeline is necessary in the face of these ongoing skills shortages. By way of context, this is a marked increase on Weld Australia’s 2020 member survey results. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most common
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Australian Welding
answers were a pipeline of work that extended less than one month (at 28%), one month (19%), and two months (16%). Amid these skills shortages, employers are also facing increasingly unstable workforces. Employers never know when their staff might be forced into a seven-day isolation period, with COVID-19 case numbers reaching record highs over the last couple of months. And, let’s not forget the strain that this is having on welders themselves. With so few skilled welders available, overtime and long hours are the norm. In some instances, this is leading to fatigue, non-compliant welds and rework. None of this is surprising. The Australian Government has projected that, to 2024, the number of job openings for structural steel and welding trades will be above average. In some states, advertised vacancies have shown substantial increases over the last few years; Queensland has seen welding trades workers vacancies increase by 87%, Western Australia saw vacancies increase by 80%, and Victoria saw an increase of 18%. And yet, the number of welding trade workers in Australia dropped by
8% in the course of just five years; from 75,800 in 2014 to 69,600 in 2019. In addition, completion rates of welding apprenticeships, including a Certificate III in Engineering (Fabrication Trade), continue to fall by as much as 23% annually. We have known for some time now that Australia will have a shortfall of at least 70,000 welders by 2030. Alarmingly, this projected shortfall of welders does not account for Australia’s move from carbon fuelled power generation to a renewable energy system. According to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) 2022 Integrated System Plan, for Australia to become a renewable energy superpower, National Electricity Market needs approximately 269 GW of wind and approximately 278 GW of solar—equivalent to 34 times its current capacity of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE). To put this into perspective, construction commenced this month on the MacIntyre Wind Precinct in Queensland. This consists of two wind farms and 180 turbines. This Wind Precinct will generate 1 GW of energy annually. So, if this project is used as a benchmark, Australia