Radical approach needed to overcome skilled welder shortage
Weld Australia estimates that, unless action is taken now, Australia will be 70,000 welders short by 2030.
This urgent issue is not unique to Australia; the US$5.5 billion US fabrication industry will face a shortage of 500,000 welders by 2030. By 2050, Japan’s demographic downturn will result in a 50 per cent loss in their welding workforce; Japan will need around 250,000 welders. In the United Kingdom, BAE is having trouble recruiting enough welders in Glasgow to keep the Type 26 Frigate project on track.
This global shortfall of welders is driving most developed nations to implement extraordinary measures to resolve it – Australia must follow suit.
Statistics from the ABS demonstrate that the number of tradesmen identifying as welding trades workers fell from 83,400 in 2012, to 75,800 in 2014, and again to 69,600 in 2019. Weld Australia estimates that the total is now less 60,000. It is also important to note these individuals ‘identify’ as welders – they are not necessarily qualified welders. Weld Australia suggests that less than half of these 60,000 individuals have completed an apprenticeship, or are otherwise suitably qualified.
Clearly, Australia does not have the welders to deliver the nation’s critical energy, defence, rail and infrastructure projects. Access to the global supply chain for fabricated steel products will be a high-risk, expensive proposition. We will be unable to deliver on the Federal Government’s promises, like renewable energy targets.
Australia’s transition to renewables will necessitate the manufacture of thousands of wind towers and transmission towers, solar panel structures, hydrogen plants and battery processing plants, as well as thousands of kilometres of transmission lines. All this will require a highly skilled workforce, including thousands of qualified welders.
(c) Manufacturer’s Monthly
