A new report on entering New Zealand’s civil infrastructure construction workforce has been published by national association Civil Contractors New Zealand, with support from the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Titled Developing a Skilled Civil Construction Workforce, the 67-page report explores the challenges and solutions the civil infrastructure construction industry faces in bringing new entrants into the workforce and developing them into skilled civil tradespeople.

Civil Contractors chief executive Alan Pollard said New Zealand’s critical civil construction worker shortage was exacerbated by limited connection to schools, a lack of support for work-ready training and induction and a high cost of training with a limited supply of trainers.

The report focussed on supporting new entrants to join the workforce – an issue of prime importance for an industry employing up to 60,000 Kiwis in constructing NZ’s roads, water networks, airports and other essential infrastructure.

“Civil construction is a vitally important industry, offering lucrative and rewarding work. But as an industry, we are currently running small-scale programmes to onboard and upskill people, with little co-ordination and a lack of connection with the education system,” said Pollard.

“The report findings will enable the industry to take a lead role in addressing the challenges and opportunities in bringing new people into the industry, as well as better upskilling workers and working more closely with partners in education and government.”

Pollard said the work in the report explored actions the civil construction industry was taking to do this, and many successful programmes that had been identified through the research, and could be shared with the industry.

“The Government’s work with industry through the Construction Skills Action Plan, MSD, Regional Skills Hubs, and Te Puni Kokiri funded projects have made a big difference. These are great programmes, and we need more of them to tie in with industry and prepare people for success when starting work and ready them for the jobs they are going into,” he said

Pollard said there were some good examples of industry programmes in action that really needed to ramp up. The Infrastructure Skills Centre was a key example of a Government-funded industry-led intake pilot programme that resulted in very good outcomes for those on the course.

“Many other industry-specific work readiness programmes are supported by Government for licensing, tickets, workshops and supporting people to gain the skills, including soft skills, they need to start work and have a successful and rewarding career.”