• Share:

• Subscribe:

Critical to the success of Queensland’s infrastructure program is the productivity and health of our construction industry. In recent years, the cost of building new infrastructure has risen. A shortage of skilled construction workers, disruptions to material supply chains and an increased number of business insolvencies have continued to impact the construction industry, presenting challenges to achieving our plans.

Why is it important to have a strong labour workforce?

The infrastructure industry, which comprises the residential, civil, and commercial construction sectors, is one of the largest employers in Queensland and nationally. The industry employs a range of skilled people, including construction workers, engineers, designers, consultants, project managers and the many tradespeople essential in delivering infrastructure.

Queensland relies on this industry to deliver the infrastructure that underpins our economic growth, our communities and our quality of life. A surge in demand for skills, labour and materials to meet increasing infrastructure investment and delivery has placed significant pressure on the capacity of the market to respond to and meet this demand.

What are the current challenges to growing and maintaining a strong labour workforce?

Workforce challenges such as low retention rates and culture and wellbeing issues are also impacting the prosperity and sustainability of the industry. Research shows construction employees are at elevated risk of mental health issues compared to workers in other industries and the construction industry has the highest incidence rate of work-related injuries or illnesses¹. In short, the industry has low diversity, low work-life balance and high injury and illness rates. These factors all impact the industry’s capacity to attract, retain and grow an engaged and productive workforce.

Improvements to productivity in the Australian construction industry more broadly have not kept pace in comparison to other industries when measured for efficiency, productivity, innovation, digitisation, sustainability, industrialisation and value for money. In fact, it has remained stagnant for 30 years.

How is the Queensland Government working with the construction industry to drive positive outcomes?

The Infrastructure Productivity and Workforce Roadmap and Action Plan have been developed in partnership with industry so we can work together to address these challenges. The roadmap ( 1.3 MB) provides a framework for government and industry to collaborate to improve productivity and workforce outcomes. The action plan ( 415.4 KB) provides practical and tangible actions aimed at harnessing innovation, growing a strong and diverse workforce and embracing best practice approaches to infrastructure planning and delivery.

To ensure Queensland’s infrastructure industry remains competitive and an attractive place to invest, the Roadmap and Action Plan set out clear objectives that will guide government and industry efforts to support the industry to:

• enhance workforce and industry productivity
• grow a thriving and diverse workforce
• enable opportunities to assess and harness innovations
• ease market capacity issues, and
• support growth and sustainability within the sector.

As Queensland’s infrastructure industry continues to evolve, so will the industry’s needs and development priorities and practices. The Queensland Government will continue to partner with industry and community to plan for and respond to industry needs and contemporary practices as they change over time.  

The performance and health of the construction industry is critical to the delivery of infrastructure that will improve the lives of Queenslanders, and collaboration between government and industry is an essential part of this. By working together, we can grow a more productive and healthier construction industry – for the benefit of all Queenslanders.

• Share:

• Subscribe: