197,000 infrastructure workers needed in Australia to meet demand

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While the demand for infrastructure workers has slightly reduced, industry remains pessimistic about meeting workforce challenges.

The latest 2024 Infrastructure Market Capacity Report by Infrastructure Australia provides government and industry with a picture of the nation’s demand to build and the market’s ability to deliver on that demand.

Australia’s Major Public Infrastructure Pipeline is $213 billion across the 5 years from financial years 2023–24 to 2027–28 (‘five-year outlook’), down 8% compared with the projection of 12 months earlier for the corresponding outlook period 2022–23 to 2026–27.

As of August 2024, there are 198,000 (full-time equivalent) infrastructure workers, comprised of 62% Trades and Labour workers, 26% Engineers, Scientists and Architects and 12% Project Management Professionals.

There is a predicted shortage of 197,000 infrastructure workers this year in Australia, representing a drop of 32,000 workers (-13%) in shortages predicted last year.

Broken down by occupation groups, the 197,000 total workforce shortfall comprises of:

  • 111,000 Engineering, Scientists, and Architects in shortage (56% of total shortages). While still the largest group in shortfall, shortages appear to have peaked and will decline from 2025, potentially a reflection of more projects in the pipeline moving past design and planning into the construction phase.
  • 29,000 Project Management Professionals in shortage (15% of total shortages). Shortages are expected to increase steadily until mid-2027 to 37,000.
  • 57,000 Trades and Labourers in shortage (29% of total shortages). Shortages are expected to climb up quickly and peak in early 2026 to 74,000.

The reduced shortage reflects slightly softer demand this year coupled with growth in supply. This promising result illustrates the efforts made by governments to adjust overly ambitious pipelines to bring demand closer to market capacity to deliver over the last year.

The sector will continue to experience shortages in roles across all occupational groups, with trades workers expected to surpass engineers as the group most in shortage. Vocation Education and Training will supply the majority (64%) of new infrastructure workers, followed by higher education (25%) and migration (10%).

Skilled Migration

Looking at skilled migration intake in 2023, Engineers, Scientists and Architects received the largest portion (66%) of visas in the construction industry compared to visas granted to skilled workers in Finishing Trades and Labour (18%), Structure and Civil Trades and Labour (7%) and Project Management (8%).

Given it takes longer to train engineers, scientists and architects than workers in trade and labourers, migration provides a quicker short-term fix to address shortages. However, as noted in the 2023 Infrastructure Market Capacity Report, many qualified migrant engineers, once on shore, struggle to secure an engineering role due to a range of barriers. Several initiatives are underway by governments working with industry to address this problem, such as Engineers Australia’s Global Engineering Talent Program.

The Northern Territory will experience the most acute workforce shortage as a proportion of supply, with a 40% rise in demand compared to last year’s forecast.

Industry remains pessimistic about how it can address worker shortages

Industry remains pessimistic about meeting workforce challenges, with a majority of surveyed businesses expecting shortages to worsen, citing too much demand as the key reason behind shortages.

As shown in Figure 25, over half (56%) of respondents surveyed in Infrastructure Australia’s 2024 Labour Shortage Survey expect the labour market to worsen over the next 1–2 years, while 22% expect shortages to remain the same and another 22% expect an improvement.


While workforce shortages have peaked this year due to a flatter demand profile compared to previous years’ estimates, industry will continue to struggle to secure the workers as shortages will remain across all occupational groups.

Shortages appear to have peaked in capital cities but are projected to rise in regional areas, driven by significant new renewable energy projects announced in the regions with only modest increases in supply projected.

The top five occupations needed to deliver energy projects in over the five-year outlook are:

  • Other Professional Engineers (those not classified as civil, electrical, industrial, mechanical or production engineers)
  • General Construction Labourers
  • Electricians
  • Plant Operators
  • Project Managers.

Businesses can’t attract candidates,and may have given up advertising vacancies

Industry reports that the top barriers to hiring the right candidates are poor skills and experience, and difficulty attracting candidates.

  • 81% of businesses report candidates do not have the appropriate skills or experience.
  • 42% of businesses couldn’t get enough candidates to apply.
  • 40% of businesses report candidates did not want the type of work they need filled.
  • 40% of businesses report that project locations are not appealing to candidates.

Source: : © Infrastructure Australia 2024.

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