Energy, mining and property: Bypass talent competition with innovation

The Australian workforce must evolve

The Australian workforce must evolve fast to meet the demand and skillsets required for a greener, more digitised future. This is particularly true within the energy, mining and property (EMP) sectors, where labour needs across the clean energy value chain will increase sharply as the renewable project pipeline grows rapidly to meet net zero targets.

Building and engineering trades required for the transition to net zero will need to increase by over 200,000 jobs by 2033. And it is likely to be an intensely competitive workforce for decades, with the level of scarcity expected to be similar to the 2000s mining boom.

Innovating to avoid talent competition

The energy, mining, property and construction skills shortage is only going to grow. Understand what’s behind it and how to rethink the problem while exploring success stories.

Talent acquisition constraints

Engineering and trade talent pools will remain constrained, mainly due to:

Declining enrolments in university STEM courses

Compounded by over 50 percent attrition rates.
Flat enrolments and increasing attrition rates in key trades

Such as electrical.
An ageing workforce

Where the number of people reaching retirement age between now and 2050 will more than double.
Evidence of ineffective use of skilled migrant talent

Despite making up 58 percent of the engineering workforce.

Immediate action is needed. The current talent pool simply isn’t matching up with demand, and many of the roles desperately needed by 2030 already face major skill shortages.

Luke Menzel

CEO, Energy Efficiency Council

Innovative alternatives for talent shortage

As in all markets, scarcity increases labour costs, which is why energy, mining, property and construction organisations must consider innovative alternatives, especially for roles where the workforce shortage is most acute.

Innovation can take numerous forms, and in our experience, opportunities can be found across asset design, supply chain and process optimisation.

Collaboration and a systematic approach to applying creative problem solving are key to addressing green energy workforce challenges. We recommend the following factors are considered in creating and opportunity to disrupt traditional thinking: