Why NSW is the place to be for construction job hunters
- magda
New South Wales was a surprise winner in the latest release of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is now home to half of the country’s new jobs.
As reported recently in the Sydney Morning Herald, the figures outline a scenario in which half of all the new jobs created in the last year were based in the state. A situation that’s been seen just twice before.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of this is thanks to the strong property market within the state. The property boom trend has eclipsed the strong mining markets across the country. This is largely how NSW managed to win this spot over states such as Western Australia.
The Housing Industry Association has already tipped New South Wales as the ‘premier state’ for home building in its 2015 housing scorecard. This ranks states and territories based on factors such as renovations and the turnover of established homes.
Another side of the construction coin
The other side of the construction coin, and perhaps a further explanation of the sector’s stronghold over the new jobs in the state, is that of commercial properties. Civil and commercial building sector magazine Construction Monitor has recently released its inaugural report. The report is about the current economic performance of each state. It is according to building activity against long-run averages. NSW has come out in fourth place in the report.
Geordan Murray, an economist for Australian Construction Insights (ACI) which produces the new magazine, said that there was plenty of promise for new construction in areas. Such as religious buildings and facilities to provide for aged care. Health, recreation, short-term accommodation, and agriculture also received mentions for work opportunities in the short term.
“New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory are enjoying the prosperity upstairs. While Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory are living rough downstairs,” he explained.
Employment figures improve
In terms of unemployment in the state, there were approximately 9,200 more people in employment in August (seasonally adjusted) compared with July. It is according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The state was second only to Queensland, which had 11,200. It came in well ahead of Western Australia in third place with 7,000 newly employed persons. Victoria was the only state to see a drop in the employment rate. It lost an estimated 6,600 employed positions in the month.
As for which jobs are seeing the most shortages in New South Wales, in particular, the Department of Employment has recently offered an updated report on which areas are proving to be most difficult in terms of finding skilled workers.
Professionals and skilled workers are in demand
Health professionals such as optometrists, midwives, registered nurses, and physiotherapists are in hot demand, as are civil, electrical, and mechanical engineers. And of course, much of the list is comprised of skilled workers in the construction sector, such as tilers, plasterers, glaziers, carpenters, plumbers, and bricklayers. While these are tagged with a number of labels such as being counted as difficult to recruit for, hard to come by in metropolitan areas, or simply as being considered as a ‘shortage’. There’s no denying these areas of work are high on the list of those needed in NSW.
