Small and medium-sized electrical businesses hold the key to Australia’s future electrician workforce, training 71 per cent of all electrician apprentices despite facing significant costs and constraints in doing so.
A new research paper from Powering Skills Organisation, released in August 2026, shows Australia is short on electricians and that the shortage is set to deepen as demand for skilled workers continues to grow.
The report, titled Electrician Workforce Capacity Study, has calculated the cost to employ an apprentice electrician sits somewhere between $200,000 and $250,000 over the four years, with wages making up 54 per cent of that cost.
For a small electrical contractor, that is a massive burden to carry, and most of it lands early, well before the apprentice is productive enough on the tools to offset it.
The report also shows what happens when that financial burden is eased.
During the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements program, which ran through the pandemic period, employer costs were reduced through wage subsidies and apprenticeship commencements rose by 45 per cent.
Employers have always been willing to train apprentices; the barrier has always been cost.
Training delivery can also lessen the burden for employers.
Major Training delivers the UEE30820 Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician through intensive two-week in-person training blocks, structured around the demands of full-time employment.
Every day an apprentice spends off the tools in fragmented, drawn-out training is a day an employer pays wages and covers supervision without productive output.
A concentrated two-week block compresses that disruption into a defined period instead of spreading it across the year, cutting the number of times workflow and rostering are interrupted.
For the small and medium contractors carrying most of the cost of training Australia’s next generation of electricians, that difference matters.
Reducing the burden, whether through wage subsidies or through smarter training delivery, is what turns willing employers into active ones.
If you’re an employer ready to build an electrical workforce call 1800 186 202 or visit Electrotechnology Apprenticeships to find out more.
