Employment Opportunities for People with Disability in the Construction Industry 

Lead: Prof Shankar Sankaran, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building

Duration: 2021

Responding to calls for a more inclusive construction industry, this project contributes to the emerging policy and research debates in social procurement about how to leverage Australia's unprecedented infrastructure and construction pipeline to provide more meaningful and sustainable employment opportunities for people with a disability who are normally excluded from this industry. Since construction is the third largest employer in Australia and builds in many of our most marginalised and regional communities, this project has the potential to contribute significantly to the transformation of communities in which it builds. 

What impact will we create?

This project investigated the potential of inclusive practices in the construction industry, Australia's largest non service-related industry currently contributing to 9% of Australian GDP. It is a growth industry, increasing by 2% per quarter and currently employs over 1.1 million Australians. Yet the industry has a poor record of inclusion regarding gender and disability, with 88% of workforce being able Australian males.

The project also responds to the call for a national workforce strategy for Australians with disability, to lift labour force participation rates that are half that of the non-disabled. With new technologies such as building information modelling, off-site manufacture and vehicle modification, opportunities to diversify participation in the sector are feasible without compromising workforce safety.

A key challenge the project addresses is Construction Culture, which the Australian Constructors Association (ACA) identified as a key issue to be addressed by government and industry. With government projections of infrastructure worth nearly $18b to be built before 2023, the sector skills shortage is a significant challenge. The ACA has supported setting up a Construction Industry Culture Taskforce to address diversity issues. However, the response by the ACA has been surprisingly silent on looking for opportunities for people with disability to join the industry. This is the gap this project investigated. 

The project has produced a focused literature review identifying barriers and enablers to employing people in the construction sector in Australia. The project also leveraged the experience of students within the Master of Project Management, many of whom are managers within the construction industry, using  a Rich Picture Exercise to explore stakeholder perceptions and to better understand the problem. This process was guided by the literature review findings and implemented with students role playing stakeholder roles and developing strategies to overcome barriers.

Initial project impact may be through raising awareness of the issue among our students, current or future industry stakeholders with opportunity to influence employment decisions. Future impact of the project will be through dissemination of project findings to guide industry policy, as well as to define further research into construction industry employment practices.  The project has already drawn the attention of industry, with the team engaging with industry who have requested a briefing on results.

Who are we working with?

• Professor Shankar Sankaran, Professor Organizational Project Management 
• Distinguished Professor Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, School of the Built Environment 
• Professor Simon Darcy, Professor in Management; UTS Business School 
• Dr. Phillippa Carnemolla, Associate Professor, School of the Built Environment 
• External Partners
  The external stakeholders in this study are the Australian Contractor's Association, Association of Consultants and Access Australia, Roads Australia, Australian Human Rights Commission, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, major construction firms building infrastructure, schools and centres providing training and education for people with disability.
  The following organizations have indicated their support to help the project team to conduct further investigation on the topic with a view towards future industry linked grant applications: Multiplex Construction (committed to a diverse inclusive workforce), Rotary Club of North Ryde, Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, Settlement Services International (providing refugee settlement), New Horizons North Ryde (advising on inclusion and participation), QSSS (providing support for people with disability).

Research Design 

The project conducted a literature review to reveal how employers across a range of sectors articulate cultural and structural barriers to more inclusive employment of people with disability. Additionally, the team conducted a stakeholder exercise with postgraduate students at UTS (many of whom are practitioners from Government and industry), with the students representing stakeholders involved in employing people in the construction sector. .

Funding Support

• Social Impact Grant, UTS

Network Research Themes

• Inclusion and Social Participation
• Social Justice, Diversity and Equity