This story first appeared in the May issue of DieselTalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE
New Zealand is in the grips of a construction boom. While everyone knows it follows the global financial crisis (GFC) not everyone realises just what a construction recession that was.
The GFC lasted for some time and construction activity plummeted to its lowest levels ever recorded, staying there for many years.
In fact, the number of homes that weren’t built during the GFC was double the number of homes that weren’t built in all other recessions combined.
Auckland fared the worst with 35,000 fewer homes built in the last ten years than the previous ten. Yet its population grew by about 240,000 – it’s little wonder we have a housing crisis.
After going from 31,500 new builds in 2004 to 13,500 in 2010, the industry ‘restructured’ itself. It shed staff, didn’t train, hunkered down and hung on by its fingernails waiting for things to improve.
Fast forward to today and we are booming. But the level of activity is only at our long-run build rate (6.5 new homes per 1000 people) and we have some way to go to replace the shortfall.
Coming off such a low base is part of the problem. While apprentice numbers are on the rise, there is an 18-month lag on apprentice training as tradies need certainty of work before they will employ them. That lag can be a drag on growth so immigrants are used to fill the void.
As the economy recovers, the competition for potential apprentices heats up. NZ Inc will be fighting over fewer school leavers for the next decade because we experienced our lowest birth rate ever from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s.
The BCITO looks after 15 construction trades and works closely with each sector to ensure it reflects their specific needs. It has recently developed individual workforce development plans for each of them and will roll out those over the next few years.
It also has to look at what the market values in the way of skills. With firm specialisation occurring at an ever-increasing pace we must consider whether its current suite of qualifications is sufficient and whether we need to be more nimble to reflect this specialisation.
We know current qualifications address the needs for part of the market but not all of it. In order to increase the number of firms that train and attract more prospects into construction, we have to think laterally and align our skills development with employer requirements.
To that end we have the Government’s support to trial a system that will recognise specific skill sets. It’s an exciting and radical development that other industries and ITOs are keen to follow.
We also have to ensure school-leavers and their influencers (mums, dads, teachers, career advisers etc) see construction as a genuine career option, that going to university isn’t the only choice and ‘earn as you learn’ in a trade is as rewarding, if not more so, than the professional pathway.
The universities have a head start on us because ITOs have only been around for 25 years but I think we are catching up.
Changing the attitudes of influencers is a long-run game but one we have to play.
We don’t want to get to crisis point and require government intervention to right the ship, which is what has happened in South Korea – ranked one of the most innovative countries in the OECD.
It encouraged too many school leavers to attend university and now graduates cannot get the jobs they trained for and there aren’t enough tradespeople to build the county’s infrastructure. The country’s now implementing an apprentice regime for the first time in its history.
Cue BCITO’s “Not Your Average Tradie Road Trip”.
The campaign leverages off last year’s “Not Your Average Shed” campaign and the Industry Training Federation’s annual “Got a Trade, Got it Made” campaign.
It is designed to raise awareness of the critical demand for apprentices in the construction industry and to promote the benefits of a career in the trades. The four-week trip left Auckland on April 10 to visit Tauranga, New Plymouth and Wanaka before heading back to Auckland.
A group of talented BCITO tradies have been carrying out work in a range of locations including dedicated spaces for at-risk youth, a health and social services provider, a surf club, schools and on properties with Habitat for Humanity.
We have ‘30 jobs in 30 days’ and showcase all the trades we cover. Every minute is being filmed and followers can log on to bcito.tv and follow the apprentices around the country – it’s like our own version of reality TV.
At the time of writing we have had a fantastic response and have generated a huge following. We have had ten time more ‘hits’ than for the same period in last year’s campaign which was an incredible success in its own right.
