Australia's engineering skills gap is double global average

Analysis from Randstad has revealed that 4% of all Australian engineering and maintenance jobs are currently vacant — against a global industry average of 2.1%.

Salaries are being driven up in part by this skills shortage, with Australia offering the fourth-highest salaries for the skills globally, with an average salary range of $72K to $138K — 11% higher than the UK. And while Australia has stronger female representation in industry when benchmarked against key players like the US and UK, more must still be done to close the sector gender gap with men currently accounting for 71% of all engineering and maintenance talent.

The skills with the highest vacancy rate in Australia are:

1. Operational efficiency: 7.7%
2. Facility maintenance: 6.9%
3. Safety and compliance: 5%
4. Civil engineering: 2.9%
5. Equipment maintenance: 2.5%
6. Electrical engineering: 2.2%
7. Mechanical engineering: 1.3%

“It’s around twice as challenging to find the right engineering or maintenance talent than the global average,” said Clayton Colbert, National Director of Construction, Property & Engineering at Randstad. “They tend to be less mobile and are usually required onsite, generally making it harder to access new talent pools. So, rather than fighting talent scarcity in their local market, businesses struggling to recruit should look to relocating talent within the field.

“Employer branding is a key piece to this puzzle. To attract interstate or international staff, they need to compete on salary as well as non-pecuniary benefits, culture and work-life balance.”

Randstad’s analysis is the result of research across 23 markets globally including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. The data is based on a combination of verified, normalised labour market data by market and granular, skill-based data sourced from professional social media networks and job boards, and career sites.

Image credit: iStock.com/ArtistGNDphotography