Bathurst trade employers will benefit from a proposed federal budget subsidy plan to prevent a mass-wave of young people with no work skills.
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The Federal Government has released its federal budget on Tuesday night, including a plan of more than $1 billion in new subsidies to take on 100,000 apprentices.
The budget measure will offer businesses a 50 per cent wage subsidy and aims to help the growing crisis as companies battle the troubles of the current economic downturn, potentially putting thousands of apprentices out of work and creating a future of skill shortage.
Kelso Electrical Pty Ltd director Brad Schumacher believes the subsidies will help keep the trade force coming through.
"After the COVID period, a lot of speciality trade services have suffered," he said.
"I think [the proposed subsidies] are needed to help keep the skill trade force coming through, otherwise all that will happen is business owners in the trade industry are going to be reluctant to grow their company by employing new apprentices, as they would be unsure of the future.
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"If there's a subsidy for business owners to relieve a portion of the wage of apprentices, there's going to be a better chance they're going to hire these kids."
Without a wage subsidy for apprentices, Mr Schumacher said he thinks young people will find it harder to find a job in a trade.
"That in turn may not affect the economy right now, but the roll-on effect means we will have a shortage of labourers in the specialised construction industry," he said.
"Quite frankly, we won't be able to keep up with the workloads that the community is asking for when the world gets back on track."
Mr Schumacher said he's found a lot more people looking for work right now, but he said it's "certainly not the time to be over capitalising" on staff.
"Watching your staff ratio against your work ratio is more important than ever," he said.
"We definitely have seen more resumes come across the desk.
"It would be fantastic to capitalise on those in a better economy, but at the moment you've got to count your chickens."
Kelso Electrical currently has 12 apprentices on its payroll, with a few more under the Kelso Heating and Cooling banner.
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