Automotive trades remain in shortage as national skills pressures ease, MTAA warns

Shortages ease nationally but automotive trades persist on the list

The Motor Trades Association of Australia says automotive skills shortages remain unresolved even as the national picture improves. Reporting by AutoTalk's Richard Edwards cites Jobs and Skills Australia's 2026 Occupation Shortage List, which shows the share of occupations in national shortage falling from 29 per cent in 2025 to 27 per cent in 2026. Technicians and trades workers nonetheless retain the highest shortage rate of any major occupational group, at 48 per cent. ¹

According to the MTAA, nine automotive trades occupations have appeared on the Occupation Shortage List in every edition since 2021, with two more added since 2022. MTAA executive director Bruce Billson said national shortages may be easing, but automotive workshops are still struggling to find the people they need, adding that the association's latest workforce survey found employers filled fewer than half their vacancies, with more than 90 per cent reporting recruitment difficulties. ¹

The labour-market scale is documented in separate Jobs and Skills Australia research, which AutoTalk reports estimated 40,100 vacancies across automotive and engineering trades in the November 2025 quarter, against 26,900 online job advertisements. That gap between advertised positions and vacancies underscores why headline easing has not translated into filled workshop roles. ¹

MTAA survey: vacancies unfilled and applicants per job collapsing

The MTAA's own figures, reported by GoAutoNews Premium's Neil Dowling and separately by AutoTalk, come from the association's 2026 Industry Skills Shortages Survey, submitted to Jobs and Skills Australia as part of the 2026 occupation shortage list consultation. The survey found more than 90 per cent of employers describe recruitment as difficult or very difficult, and 75 per cent say recruitment is harder than three years ago. These are MTAA survey findings attributed to the association rather than independently established labour-market data. ²³

The same MTAA survey reports an industry vacancy fill rate of 48 per cent, which GoAutoNews Premium notes sits below Jobs and Skills Australia's 67 per cent shortage threshold, along with 38 per cent of vacancies remaining unfilled and 68 per cent of employers expecting shortages to worsen over the next 12 months. Average applicants per vacancy have fallen from 8.2 in 2024 to three in 2026, according to the survey results reported by both outlets. ²³

The MTAA says the industry employs more than 320,000 Australians and supports almost every other sector of the economy, framing the shortage as affecting far more than workshops alone. GoAutoNews Premium carries the same employment figure, with Billson describing an industry facing persistent, widespread workforce shortages that are getting worse. As with the survey results, the employment figure is the association's own claim rather than an independently verified count. ²³

The survey also points to weaknesses in the domestic training pipeline. GoAutoNews Premium reports that almost four in 10 apprenticeships for automotive and engineering trades workers are not completed within six years, that 43 per cent of employers say current training pathways are not producing suitable workers, and that only 10 per cent believe existing pathways are adequate. ²

Migration settings and apprenticeship incentives in dispute

The MTAA is calling for automotive trades to be added to the nation's priority skilled visa processing categories. AutoTalk reports the appeal follows home affairs minister Tony Burke's skilled migration announcement, which prioritises occupations supporting law enforcement, defence, healthcare, teaching, construction, agriculture and fisheries; automotive occupations remain eligible for skilled visas but are excluded from priority processing. The MTAA estimates Australia is short of 38,000 automotive trade professionals and technicians, and says it will seek a meeting with Burke and the Department of Home Affairs. ³

Billson said automotive technicians are in chronic shortage yet missing from the new priority visa processing arrangements, while stressing that skilled migration will not replace domestic training. On apprenticeships, he said incentives have fallen from up to $37,000 to around $5,000 and that only around half of automotive apprentices complete their training, calling for stronger incentives, better mentoring and better-resourced training providers. Those figures are the MTAA's claims, reported by AutoTalk. ¹

In Victoria, AutoTalk reports the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce says automotive apprentices have been left out of the state's 2027 Free TAFE expansion. GoAutoNews Premium notes the MTAA's argument that the federal debate over skilled migration continues to focus heavily on building and construction trades, driven by the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes, and that the association wants automotive retail, service and repair recognised as critical areas of workforce need. ¹²

Vehicle technology raising the skills bar

The MTAA says the growing technical complexity of modern vehicles is further widening the skills gap, pointing to electrification, advanced driver assistance systems and high-voltage diagnostics, as reported by GoAutoNews Premium. The association cites electrified vehicles accounting for 48.4 per cent of new vehicle sales in July 2026 as accelerating demand for technicians with new-technology capabilities. That sales figure and the skills-gap framing are MTAA positions reported by the publication. ²

State-level evidence is consistent with the national picture. TPRC, a recruitment services business, cites a 2025 ABC News report on Queensland workshops in which more than half of the state's automotive repair businesses reported difficulty attracting qualified workers, some roles stayed open for more than six months, and around 200 applications produced only a handful worth interviewing. TPRC also cites a Deloitte Access Economics survey for the VACC finding that Victorian businesses advertised over 600 vacancies in 2024 but filled fewer than 250, an average fill rate of 37 per cent. As TPRC markets overseas recruitment services, its guidance should be read with that commercial interest in mind, though the underlying ABC and Deloitte-VACC findings are attributed within its article. ⁴

What remains unresolved

Billson frames the consequences for motorists directly, saying that when workshops cannot find technicians, motorists wait longer, repairs cost more and vehicle safety can be put at risk. That is an industry-association claim rather than an independently measured outcome, though TPRC's article cites reporting that Queensland workshops have turned away customers because they lacked adequately skilled staff. ¹⁴

The core conflict in the current reporting is between the easing national headline in Jobs and Skills Australia's 2026 list and the MTAA's evidence of worsening recruitment conditions at trade level; neither source resolves it, and the MTAA's submission to the occupation shortage list consultation argues that classifications, including 'no shortage' labels for occupations such as agricultural mechanics, tyre fitters and tow truck drivers, no longer reflect current recruitment conditions, as reported by GoAutoNews Premium. Whether migration settings or apprenticeship incentives change in response to the association's representations to the minister and to Jobs and Skills Australia remains an open question. ²¹