As the energy sector faces significant staffing shortages and rapid change, Essential Energy is taking practical action to help reshape the future workforce - starting with students across regional communities.
Essential Energy is again partnering with the NSW Government Regional Industry Education Partnerships (RIEP) program this year to host student work experience events that move beyond awareness and provide real world experience in trades.
The RIEP program works with employers and schools across NSW to connect students with industries, helping them better understand career pathways, training options and the skills required for future jobs in regional communities.
Essential Energy hosted 24 events with RIEP in 2025 with plans to further boost engagement with students across 2026 as the energy sector looks to fill a shortfall of 42,000 trades roles across Australia by 2030.
Essential Energy CEO John Cleland said the industry needs to do everything it can to promote itself to the next generation of energy workers.
Those future tradespeople also require specialised training with the Essential Energy Training Academy launching later this year across six sites in regional NSW.
Another industry desperately in need of tradespeople is construction with workforce shortages one of the biggest constraints on increasing home building activity.
In response the Housing Industry Association (HIA) has released figures showing the financial advantages for young people choosing a trade instead of tertiary education.
It shows the financial benefits are immediate and there is the added benefit for apprentices getting access to fee-free TAFE.
HIA executive director future workforce, Mike Hermon, said free TAFE means not being burdened by a HECS debt.
Publicly available data shows that the typical period of study and expected market wage of an accountant and carpenter are similar, but when considering wages and cost to study there is a discrepancy of at least $50,000 in favour of the trade while training.
When armed with a trade qualification an individual earning potential can be equal to or greater than some positions requiring university degrees.