If you’re a qualified electrician, then now could be an excellent time to look for new opportunities for electrical jobs in Australia.
Indeed, you’d likely be among just a few, and a severe skills shortage is leaving businesses unable to find the solutions they need.
This leaves a massive deficit between the number of electricians and the demand for their services.
Indeed, Australian electricians are becoming increasingly hard to find in many cases, but that’s not for lack of work driving electricians out of the field.
There’s plenty of opportunities – but just not enough skilled individuals in the job market looking for these new roles.
For qualified electricians looking for work, this, of course, offers many benefits.
Indeed, across the country, finding qualified electricians looking for work has become a major challenge – and so, now could be an excellent time for individuals with a knack for electrics to consider how to become an electrician in Australia.
The Scale of the Electrician Shortage Problem
There’s a shortage of Australian electricians – or, more notably, there’s a lack of qualified individuals with the relevant electrician skills to do the job successfully.
As a result of this, more and more businesses are struggling to source the talent they need.
Of course, this is something firms are seeing across the board in many fields; in fact, there might not be a better time to learn new skills and diversify into a different career!
The problem isn’t just something that’s affecting a couple of firms, either.
In fact, according to Indeed, as many as 35% of listings for electrical jobs in Australia remain unfilled after sixty days, or about two months – that’s no short time frame!
As such, with this in mind, it’s clear to see how significant the scale of the problem is.
With over one-third of job roles taking longer than two months to fill, there’s clearly a shortage of electrician skills in the country – and this is something all businesses need to tackle.
Why are There So Few Applicants for Electrical Jobs in Australia?
So, what is causing this lack of electrician skills in Australia? Before businesses can look at ways to combat the shortage in Australia’s electrician population, it’s first important to understand why.
Fortunately, there are a few reasons for the overall lack of applicants for electrical roles.
Lack of Entrants
One of the most notable is the lack of new entrants to the field.
For a career to remain stable in terms of its number of professionals, it’s necessary for the number of newly qualified electricians and retirees each year to remain stable. However, in recent years, this has gone considerably skewed.
These days, there’s a perception, wrongly or rightly, that going to university will yield better job opportunities for an individual.
To this end, fewer individuals are enrolling in apprenticeships and the like for electrician jobs.
This, in turn, means that there are not enough new graduates each year to replace the number of people leaving the profession or retiring.
Stigma for Trade Careers
While careers in trade were once highly sought after, there’s something of a stigma these days surrounding trade careers.
Often, individuals consider these roles low-skilled jobs, which can dissuade many talented and ambitious individuals from pursuing a career in electricals.
However, this is far from the truth, and it takes a great deal of skill and knowledge to become a successful electrician – something that, all too often, doesn’t get recognised.
Uncertainty
As a final and critical point, for people considering whether or not to become an electrician in Australia, there are significant concerns about long-term job security.
After training to become an electrician, an individual would want to be sure that they’ll have a job for life (if they so want it).
However, concerns about job security – namely the future role of robots and AI in trade careers such as electronics – are potentially dissuading people from joining.
After all, after spending years mastering your craft, why would you want to join a dying industry?
How to Combat the Labour Shortage for Skilled Electricians
The current state of the electrician field is pretty dismal, with fewer entrants learning the trade in favour of university educations with (potentially incorrect) presumptions about greater job opportunities.
Moreover, uncertainty and stigma are also playing a role in potentially discouraging the industry.
As such, if businesses want to combat this, these misconceptions and concerns need to be addressed.
Therefore, some of the best ways to encourage more people to become an electrician in Australia include the following:
- Dissuade the negative perception of the industry by promoting the profile of the career
- Increasing diversity within the industry to attract new talent to the field
- Encourage people to learn new electrician skills for greater participation and job entrants
- Highlight the career opportunities and potential to demonstrate the field’s appeal to ambitious new entrants and learners
These are just a few ways businesses can aim to tackle the lack of enthusiasm for the field.
In addition, there has been talk about allowing migrant electrical workers into the country to help make up for the shortfall in talent.
A successful campaign that tackles the above points effectively may even help businesses employ new talent when they need it most.
Conclusion
The drive for university education has led to many people missing out on the opportunities that traditional apprenticeship-based jobs could provide.
To this end, with fewer young people entering the industry, there’s become a severe shortage in the number of qualified Australian electricians looking for work.
Naturally, for businesses, this represents a significant problem.
Luckily, we’re proud to offer professional electrical labour hire support for teams just like yours – so, if you need someone to help, we’re on hand for your needs.
Still, there are ways to encourage new people to learn to become an electrician.
As such, electrical jobs in Australia are undeniably among the most understaffed – representing a great opportunity for those who have electrician skills, but a serious challenge for companies.
