Blog | 02 Dec 2024
Building Tomorrow’s Roads: Navigating Skills Shortages and Embracing Innovation in Infrastructure
Ronal Kumar
Lead Economist
Building Tomorrow’s Roads: Navigating Skills Shortages and Embracing Innovation in Infrastructure
The road infrastructure sector is facing a serious skills shortage, exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19, increasing demands on transport projects, and rapid technological advancements. Recognising the urgency, Austroads turned to Oxford Economics Australia in 2023 to conduct an in-depth workforce capability analysis.
The objective was clear: assess the skills needed for the next decade and identify the gaps between the ideal workforce and the current workforce. Through this comprehensive study, we uncovered a significant mismatch and outlined 40 potential actions to bridge the gap. In our latest update, we identified capability gaps in New South Wales, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and New Zealand, over the next 1-7 years.
When we interviewed market participants in 2023, there was a near-consensus among stakeholders: skills shortages are a pressing issue. The current surge in transport-related projects has led to a steep increase in demand for skilled labour. However, there are not enough people with the right skills available. This shortage is more than just an inconvenience; it is driving up wage costs and causing project delays. To make matters worse, the optimistic future of the transport sector amplifies this shortage, complicated further by reduced skilled migration after pandemic-induced border closures. Like many other sectors of the economy, the loss of highly skilled workers to attrition (mainly due to retirement) represents a major challenge, both now and into the future.
So, what can be done? Enhancing the skills of the existing workforce through targeted training (and creating awareness of the payoff) could make a significant difference. Easing entry barriers for new talent and fostering a collaborative environment between agencies and industry stakeholders is also key. On the retention front, offering career growth opportunities and diversifying roles can help keep valued employees from leaving for other industries. Additionally, creating clear succession plans will help leverage the experience of the aging workforce, while promoting diversity could attract a broader talent pool, including more women—a group historically underrepresented in this field.
Looking at educational pathways, there is an urgent need to ramp up STEM education to ensure a steady stream of capable graduates. Partnering with schools and universities to raise interest in the sector, and lobbying for increased funding for relevant courses are crucial steps. At the same time, embracing technology—think digital engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and more—will future-proof the industry. Road designs will need to adapt to emerging trends like autonomous vehicles and electric trucks. Here, clearer sustainability guidelines and investments in new technologies will prove invaluable.
We list out many more possible actions for addressing workforce skills challenges in our 2023 report. Throughout this extensive analysis, we provided a roadmap filled with strategic insights—crafted through numerous phases of stakeholder interviews, industry assessments, and sophisticated data modelling. Our goal was to empower Austroads and its member agencies with actionable recommendations and analytics presented through an interactive dashboard.
The skills capacity dashboard was updated in November 2024 to incorporate the latest demand and supply data. We will continue to provide half year updates into 2025 to help stakeholders monitor road sector skills capability trends and development.
Your Author
Ronal Kumar
Lead Economist
Ronal Kumar
Lead Economist
Melbourne, Australia
Ronal is responsible for the delivery of bespoke macroeconomic and commercial due diligence projects. He has experience in analysing and forecasting land registry volumes, port trade, property markets and construction in Australia’s transport, utilities and mining sectors. He previously managed various industry reports, including commercial and residential property reports and various infrastructure subscription products. Ronal has a strong interest in presenting ideas and stories through visualisations and analysing large and complex data sets.
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