New Blueprint to rebuild Australia’s construction workforce

7 September 2026

Master Builders Australia today released its Future Workforce Blueprint. The new analysis fills an important gap in industry knowledge, by combining public data sources to model Australia’s capability to produce more skilled workers, including the policy levers and pathways to do so most effectively.

The analysis confirms that Australia cannot train its way out of the construction workforce shortage overnight. The gap is structural not cyclical and the turnaround will take time, but governments can act now to start to narrow the gap.

The new modelling finds that four specific policy interventions will make the greatest contribution to address the shortage of 141,000 skilled workers – delivering almost 40,000 additional qualified workers over the next decade.

The four priority policy levers are:

• A Commonwealth payroll tax rebate on apprenticeship wages
• Expansion of Group Training Organisations (GTOs)
• Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) reform, including activating the 18,400 construction-qualified workers already living in Australia
• A Construction Training Bond to improve apprenticeship completion rates.

The Blueprint contains 32 policy recommendations, including the four priority levers, that Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn says are essential to meeting our housing, infrastructure and economic ambitions.

“The sooner governments act on these recommendations, the better placed Australia will be. The longer action is delayed, the harder and more expensive this challenge will become,” said Ms Wawn.

“Together, these reforms would reduce the annual workforce shortfall by between 3,590 and 5,720 workers per year over and above the initial burst of activating 18,400 skilled workers. The outlook would improve even further if the other recommendations were adopted in full.

“Migration remains an essential part of the solution, but it cannot replace the need to rebuild Australia’s domestic skills pipeline. Equally, attracting apprentices means little if we continue losing over 50 per cent before they complete their training.

“The analysis shows the most expensive option for governments is to do nothing. That would place $242 billion worth of infrastructure and housing construction activity at risk while allowing the cumulative workforce shortage to blow out to 935,600 workers by 2035.”

Media contact: Dylan Hafey, Adviser, Media & Government Relations

0497 330 064 | dylan.hafey@masterbuilders.com.au