Electrification is reshaping industries and workforce demands
- PostedPublished 9 May 2025
The global shift towards electrified vehicles is more than just a move into the clean economy, it is driving economic transformation, with Australia prioritising workforce development to support this transition.
Addressing the opportunities and the need for specialised labour requites strategic collaborations among governments, industries and training providers.
These are slowly emerging to overcome future challenges in building a skilled workforce capable of supporting Australia’s transition to a clean-energy future.
Addressing Australia’s EV workforce transition
While EV production is creating jobs in the US (see boxout), the rising number of electric and hybrid vehicles on Australian roads presents a distinct challenge: the demand for skilled technicians to support the increasing number of EVs.
In Australia alone, projections show that by 2030, more than 21,000 EV technicians will be required to meet the servicing demands of the country’s growing electric and hybrid vehicle population, equating to 5.98 million services annually.
To meet these workforce needs, the Australian government has introduced new training pathways through OSCA (Occupational Standard Classification Australia) codes. While these codes aim to align training programs with evolving workforce demands, there is still a need to evaluate how effectively they address the urgency of the current challenges.
According to the latest Jobs & Skills Australia report, EV technicians are already among the most sought-after roles within the clean economy, yet some state governments – specifically in New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA) – are proposing mandatory additional training for EV service workers, which could add up to two to three years of further training for those entering the field.
Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) CEO Stuart Charity argues that such proposals “are detrimental to our industry and perpetuate outdated stereotypes”.
“Our automotive technicians undergo extensive training to conduct diagnostics and repairs; suggesting they lack knowledge about EVs is absurd.”
Mr Charity and other industry leaders are calling for a coordinated federal approach to EV training programs to streamline and strengthen pathways while better aligning them with industry needs. They caution that fragmented, state-by-state training proposals would create barriers to entry, hindering the development of the skilled workforce vital to Australia’s transition to a clean economy.
Job Creation in the United States
One of the primary fears surrounding the shift to EVs was the prospect of widespread unemployment.
However, recent research from the University of Michigan (U-M) indicates that, contrary to earlier projections, EV production has actually increased labour demand, with assembly jobs at facilities transitioning to EV production growing by as much as tenfold.
Anna Stefanopoulou, senior author of the U-M study, confirms that “What we’re seeing, with the data that’s available, is that the loss of employment predicted for EVs is not happening.”
The Tesla Fremont plant illustrates this well: although EVs use about 100 fewer parts than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the number of workers required to produce each EV is still three times higher.
This highlights how earlier projections – such as the United Auto Workers labour union’s 2018 estimate predicting a 30–40 per cent reduction of 200,000 jobs – failed to account for the complexities involved in EV production.
Shared workforce opportunities and challenges
As the growth of EV and hybrid production mirrors the rising demand for skilled workers, the Future Made in Australia program has committed $22.7 billion to position the country as a “globally competitive producer” of batteries, including those used in EVs, by 2035.
Since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump and his imposition of tariffs on Australian exports, the Australian government has pledged to take the Future Made in Australia plan “to another level”.
- CategoriesIn SightGlass
- TagsAAAA, electric vehicles, EV, SightGlass News Issue 36, Training
