New houses needed - and people to build them

Auckland and New Zealand desperately need new houses but only a little over half the 28,000 houses required in 2016-17 can be built.

That's because of a dire lack of the people who actually build the houses, creating an urgent new skill shortage - but also an opportunity for school leavers.

The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) says statistics show the reality of the current shortfall, prompted by the infrastructure boom in Auckland and re-build of Christchurch, bringing unprecedented demand for construction workers.

In April last year, it was thought 1,600 new carpenters would be needed by 2018. Now this figure has been recalibrated to over 3,000. Replacement opportunities for carpenters are also growing steadily as the existing workforce ages and the brick and block industry is experiencing similar strong growth.

BCITO currently has approximately 6,000 people training in carpentry, but the industry needs at least 3,000 more to take into account the ageing work force.

Demand for new houses in 2016/17 is forecast to be more than 28,000 but the current labour market is only able to support the building of 15,000 per year, says BCITO's chief executive, Ruma Karaitiana, adding the industry needs to train and employ more people and need to do it now to have any hope of addressing the shortfall.

"Unless we train more people, we won't have the skilled manpower to cope with future demand; this will bring the consequences of projects not being completed within the desired timeframe or quality of workmanship suffering," he says.

Currently 40 per cent of workers in the industry do not have a post-secondary qualification of any kind. Although that includes all workers, carpenters need to complete a qualification to be licensed. Karaitiana says the industry needs to ensure workers have the appropriate skills, qualifications and experience to work effectively.

The BCITO is now heavily encouraging school leavers to consider the building and construction industry because it turns apprentices into skilled, highly-qualified workers with excellent prospects - and with no student loan to pay off.

Karaitiana says the project-driven, hire-and-fire nature of the industry will always have a heavy influence on how businesses and employers manage work forces "but BCITO is trying to help change perceptions so that construction work is not seen as just a job, but the development of a professional career."

While the nature of the industry means many workers change employers often, the current high demand for skilled, professionally-qualified construction workers means they are likely to get further employment with another firm easily.

One of the industry's principal reactions to managing the skills shortage has been to employ workers from overseas. Karaitiana says that has had some effect in meeting some immediate demands but has done nothing to address fundamental workforce development issues.

One solution is to improve succession planning as skilled workers retire. Karaitiana says this will mean hiring and training more of New Zealand's keen young people so they can become the construction managers and industry leaders of the future.

BCITO is also encouraging diversity in the industry. Over the next 20 years Maori, Pasifika and Asian workers are predicted to rise from 35 per cent to 50 per cent of the total workforce - but the current trend in the construction industry goes against this. Women make up less than three per cent of BCITO's active apprentices.

"We want to encourage the industry to realise the value of diversity and start drawing on a wider pool of potential workers," says Karaitiana. "In Auckland, in particular, deliberate diversity strategies could attract and integrate Maori, Pasifika, Asian and migrants with English as a second language - as well as women - into the construction workforce, with significant social and workforce benefits.

"This is an area where government and the industry need to work together."

The Government has attempted to increase the number of secondary school leavers entering trade training. Youth Guarantee initiatives, designed to create training for 7,500 trainees, and the Apprentice Reboot Scheme played a part in encouraging employers to take on 9,142 construction-related apprentices over a two-to-three-year period.

Karaitiana notes, however, that while the government has many strategies and policies in play, the special housing areas, housing accords and other schemes are slow to impact.

BCITO's Strategic Workforce Development Framework has been designed to help industry participants build an accurate picture of the current skills and capabilities of their work force, identify future requirements, and develop strategies to address any gaps between the current status of their work force and desired outcomes.