Women technicians needed!

Australia’s automotive aftermarket sector faces a severe and ongoing skills shortage, with nearly 40,000 technicians urgently needed across the country. Yet despite this clear demand, women hold only around 1 in 40 automotive trade roles, according to data from the Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance.

This underrepresentation is compounding the labour shortage, especially as demand continues to grow across the sector. Research by the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) reveals a shortfall of approximately 27,000 qualified technicians and 13,500 apprentices – leaving workshops nationwide under pressure and struggling to keep up.

Job Services Australia’s Skills Priority List shows that around 35 per cent of key automotive occupations are in shortage, reinforcing the widespread and systemic nature of the issue.

A recent report by Impact Economics and Policy, commissioned by Chief Executive Women, found that boosting women’s participation in the workforce could add the equivalent of one million full-time workers to the Australian economy.

It is yet more evidence that improving gender equity across all sectors – including trades like automotive – holds significant potential.

“Women are a largely untapped resource within our industry,” said AAAA CEO Stuart Charity.

“We know that increasing female participation isn’t just a matter of equity – it’s a practical and urgent response to near-term labour shortages. Even a modest rise in the number of women enrolling in automotive trades could make a substantial difference.”

To address the problem, the AAAA is calling for stronger collaboration between industry, government and training providers. “We aren’t pointing fingers – this is about partnership, opportunity, and readiness for change. AAAA is committed to supporting initiatives that bridge gender gaps – through promotion, training access, career visibility, and creating inclusive, flexible work environments. Addressing skills shortages goes hand in hand with harnessing female talent,” said Mr Charity.

The AAAA supports several targeted actions, including greater recognition and funding for female apprenticeships and vocational training, partnerships with programs like AAAA Women to raise awareness and improve visibility, development of mentorship and leadership pathways tailored to women in trade and collaboration with training providers and policymakers to ensure inclusive recruitment, curriculum, and workplace cultures.

“Our goal is clear: to strengthen our workforce, build a sustainable future, and reflect the communities Australia serves. Expanding women’s participation in our trade pipelines is not just fair – it’s vital,” Mr Charity concluded.

AAAA calls for occupational shortage action

The Australian government’s decision to keep automotive trades on Jobs and Skills Australia’s Occupational Shortage List (OSL) must be backed by action, according to the AAAA.

“After five consecutive years of verified shortages across every state and territory, the challenge now is turning that recognition into meaningful action,” said the AAAA.

Occupations identified as having proven shortages inform government decisions on training priorities, funding, incentives and skilled migration pathways.

“Keeping Automotive Trades on the Occupational Shortage List is the right decision, and we appreciate the Government listening to evidence,” said AAAA CEO Stuart Charity. “The next step is practical reform – lifting apprenticeship completions, cutting red tape, and ensuring migration pathways actually work.”

The AAAA is calling for the government to lock in key automotive occupations on priority lists for at least five years to give employers certainty, cut excessive fees and delays for employer-sponsored skilled migration in proven shortage roles, remove restrictive occupational entry settings that add cost and delay without improving quality or safety and fix the apprenticeship model by improving workplace support, targeted incentives and flexible training pathways.

“Shortage lists and migration settings are stabilisers, not solutions,” Mr Charity said. “Real progress depends on governments sitting down with industry to deliver a practical roadmap that keeps workshops open, customers moving, and the economy productive. 

“Industry will do its part to attract and develop talent, but we need governments to match that commitment with policies that make it easier to train, hire and keep skilled people in the trade.”