Struggling to find an electrician or builder? 5 reasons for Australia’s tradie shortage

Have you recently tried to call a tradie for repairs or a renovation and had trouble finding one?

As the federal budget once again focuses on boosting housing supply, one critical issue keeps resurfacing. Australia does not have enough skilled tradespeople to fix and renovate existing homes, let alone build the new homes being promised.

This week’s budget promised some measures to address these issues, including

• A$75.1 million over four years from 2026–27 for a new trade skills assessment system
• $5.6 million over three years from 2026–27 for a new program to recognise skills of people who trained in a trade overseas but aren’t in Australia on a skilled visa (they might, for instance, be here on a different type of visa).

This will help overseas trained tradies get licensed quicker and working in Australia.

The Housing Industry Association lobby group has welcomed this, but also flagged concerns about cuts to programs aimed at encouraging employers to hire apprentices.

And even with extra overseas-trained tradies getting licensed here, the problems are so longstanding it will take some time to make even a small dent in the shortage.

Electricians, plumbers, carpenters and other construction trades will remain hard to find. If you’re trying to build, that often means longer waits and higher costs.

Industry groups estimate Australia will need around 116,700 additional construction workers to meet the government’s target of building 1.2 million new homes over five years.

So how did we get here and what are the factors driving the tradie shortage?

1. Young Australians are not attracted to the building trades

For too long, apprenticeships – and vocational education and training in general – have been seen as less important than school subjects that lead to university.

Teachers, careers advisers, parents and members of the media often present post-school academic pathways to university as more valuable. One reason is that many of these people have never done an apprenticeship themselves.

The jobs connected to apprenticeships are often viewed as low status, and as involving more demanding physical or manual work.

Employers have not helped this image issue by insisting on low pay for apprentices while training.

We’ve seen efforts at short-term fixes, such as the federal government’s recent move to double incentive payments to $10,000 for eligible housing construction apprentices.

However, we still aren’t getting enough young people taking up apprenticeships.

And this week’s budget featured changes to measures that aim to incentivise employers to take on apprentices. Housing Industry Australia has said it’s concerned that

incentives are now limited to small and medium sized enterprises and Group Training Organisations. Large residential building employers will no longer be eligible for direct apprentice incentives […] reducing incentives risks discouraging apprentice uptake, particularly for employers already training at scale.

2. Too many apprentices are still dropping out

Another major ongoing problem is apprentice attrition.

Yes, recent data shows completion rates for trade apprenticeships have improved in construction. But too many apprentices still leave before qualifying.

The reasons are often less about the training itself, and more about low pay, poor working conditions and negative workplace experiences.

Research suggests improving workplace conditions may be crucial to reducing attrition.

3. Overseas skills are not being recognised quickly enough

Industry and policy groups have long criticised Australia’s slow and costly processes for recognising overseas trade qualifications.

Evidence suggests only a very small share of recent migrants are working in residential construction.

A key issue is that skilled trades are heavily regulated and require formal licensing, gap training and assessment against Australian standards.

Yes, this week’s budget does promise $85.2 million over four years to get migrant tradies working on job sites sooner.