Fiji born Australian-based Professor Satish Chand believes the construction industry would bloom following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The academic is with the University of the New South Wales School of Business based at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.
He said it was imperative for skilled workers to upgrade their knowledge and skills through upskilling programs.
This is part of his submission to the Australian Government.
“For next year (2022), I have been arguing about the opportunity for our skilled workers,” he said.
“I’m talking about the people who are in the mid-tier skill, the technically and vocationally trained people like our mechanics, carpenters, bricklayers and so on, there is so much demand for these folks not just in Australia, obviously Australia is the largest market, but in the region more broadly.
“And if anything, construction is likely to spike following COVID-19.
“We’ve got all these people, a lot of our youths, who are going through this upskilling and I would like two things to happen with – upskilling to take place and some of that upskilling may be funded with future income and I have a separate paper that talks about that.”
