Australia to lure more US construction workers

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia is hoping to lure more American plumbers, electricians and construction workers to be employed on Outback projects in the burgeoning mining and gas industries by changing how their skills are assessed.

Currently US skilled workers can wait in Australia for months before they are issued with licenses that allow them to work in a trade and they face the risk of being rejected if their skills don’t meet Australian standards.

The government said Monday that the system will be overhauled this month so that their skills can be assessed in the United States, giving applicants certainty that they can work in their trade when they arrive.

Australia will also host its first ever skills expo in the United States to explain what jobs are available and how Americans can apply. Because of the resource industry focus, the expo will be held in Houston, Texas, on May 19 and 20. Similar expos have been held in Ireland and Greece where crippling government debt and recession have fueled unemployment.

Australia avoided recession during the global financial crisis thanks to Chinese demand for raw materials including iron ore and coal, Australia’ two largest exports. The Australian unemployment rate is 5.2 percent.

The US unemployment rate is 8.3 percent and many involved in the sluggish construction industry there are looking for work.

Many of the jobs will be in building mines, railways and ports in remote parts of Western Australia and Queensland states.

Skills Minister Chris Evans said pay and conditions are attractive, although the distance between the United States and Australia would put some off.

“Workers coming into the resources industry in Australia at the moment will be among the best paid workers in the world,” Evans told reporters.

“The large amount of construction occurring in Australia in developing mines, railways and ports is putting huge demand on our existing civil engineering work force,” he said.

He said by 2015 the civil engineering workforce, which includes supporting occupations such as electricians, will need to swell to 75,000 compared with the current workforce of 35,000.

Evans said Australia was extending to the United States a skills assessment regime that already existed in some other countries.