After decades of historically low participation rates by women seeking careers in electrical trades, new data is showing the number of women employed in electrical trades is reaching all-time highs.
Powering Skills Organisation has released new data showing a record 4,900 women signed up for electrical apprenticeships between 2018 and 2023 in Australia.
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Powering Skills Organisation (PSO), a Jobs and Skills Council set up by federal government to address workforce development in the energy sector, has launched the research along with a new feature on its website, which allows people to find data themselves on anything relevant to the renewable energy trades.
“This is wonderful news that more women are choosing a career in electrical trades,” Powering Skills Organisation CEO Anthea Middleton says.
“Women make up approximately 17% of the energy sector workforce, but this drops to below 4% when focusing solely on women employed in hands-on trade roles, such as electricians.”
Analysis from Jobs and Skills Australia predicts a shortfall of 42,500 electricians by 2030.
“Seeing as 78% of all electricians are employed in the Australia energy sector, this means we need to find people power quickly. With a low take up of women in this sector, it seems the most obvious thing to try and appeal to more women to join electrical trades,” Middleton says.
The new data shows that, when compared to men, women who are signing up for apprenticeships are more likely to live and train in regional areas, utilise Group Training Organisations and have a higher level of prior education.
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In the past few years, women’s participation in electrical trades has increased currently representing around 3.5% of the workforce, up from around 2% in 2010.
“It’s certainly a step in the right direction and something we hope to continue see grow,” Middleton says.
