A construction company founder is urging young people to pursue trade careers over university degrees, asserting that vocational skills are more resistant to automation and offer higher earning potential.
Brenden Morrissey, 35, co-founder of Strive Modular, argues that while many jobs requiring university education are vulnerable to artificial intelligence, industries like construction will always necessitate human labor. "Construction, though, will always be needed. It's not going to be taken over. You won't be made redundant," Morrissey told the Daily Mail.
Morrissey highlighted that some contract carpenters and builders can earn as much as $75 per hour, challenging the notion that trades do not offer competitive wages. He believes that specializing in a trade provides practical life skills alongside financial benefits.
Australia is currently experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, including apprentices. Morrissey warned that this gap could widen if more young individuals do not enter trade professions. "Without skilled labour and tradespeople, we don't have a construction future as robotics and AI can only take you so far," he stated, questioning who would perform tasks like renovations if robots cannot. "All we're doing now is creating an even bigger gap in the trade shortage."
He attributed the low number of apprentices partly to insufficient wages during training. "There's not enough younger tradies coming through at the moment. Why would you want to get an apprenticeship for $17 an hour when you can go and drive a forklift for $35 an hour? That's the reality in the construction industry."
Morrissey also observed that younger generations tend to prioritize immediate high pay over long-term career prospects, contrasting with his view that trades offer future security. He noted a perceived decline in work ethic among some new apprentices, suggesting that many are motivated solely by money rather than a genuine interest in their work.
Amidst a boom in AI data center construction, which accounts for nearly 20% of non-residential building in Australia, Morrissey cautioned that large-scale infrastructure projects can draw skilled workers away from regular construction jobs due to higher compensation. He shared his own experience working on the Sydney WestConnex project for better pay than he would have received in construction, noting that such projects, along with mining, often attract tradespeople with lucrative offers.
Paris Watt, National Director of Trades and Labour at Randstad, confirmed the growing demand for skilled trades, with blue-collar roles increasing by 54 percent compared to 38 percent for professional roles. She noted that AI's growth is fueling demand for the infrastructure that supports it, such as data centers, which require a significant number of skilled tradespeople for construction. "We're already seeing the skills bottleneck in Australia and a key challenge moving forward will be addressing the shortage of skilled trades in the face of this growing demand," Watt said.