Technicians and Trades Workers
Technicians and trades workers not elsewhere classified perform specialised technical or manual work in areas where no specific occupational classification applies. They operate in varied industries including manufacturing, utilities, construction support, and equipment servicing, applying hands-on skills and technical knowledge to install, maintain, repair, or fabricate components and systems.
What this job is
Technicians and trades workers not elsewhere classified perform specialised technical or manual work in areas where no specific occupational classification applies. They operate in varied industries including manufacturing, utilities, construction support, and equipment servicing, applying hands-on skills and technical knowledge to install, maintain, repair, or fabricate components and systems. These roles typically require formal trade qualifications, apprenticeships, or equivalent technical training and operate within defined safety and quality standards specific to their domain.
Are employers advertising this role?
Rising, up 34.3% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Diagnose faults in mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic systems using diagnostic equipment and technical knowledge. Perform preventive maintenance on machinery and equipment according to manufacturer specifications and maintenance schedules. Install, assemble, and test components or systems using hand tools, power tools, and precision measuring instruments. Read and interpret technical drawings, schematics, and engineering documentation to guide work. Operate specialised equipment or machinery specific to the trade or industry sector. Comply with Safe Work Australia standards and workplace health and safety procedures including hazard identification and risk control. Keep detailed records of maintenance activities, repairs completed, and parts used for compliance and warranty purposes. Liaise with supervisors, engineers, or clients to clarify work requirements and report on job completion and issues identified.
Who does this now
About 2,400 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3)
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. Ratings are not the same everywhere. NSW and NT were rated in shortage. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You'll need to get a Certificate III or IV in a specific trade area, which takes time and money upfront. Pay varies wildly depending on your specialty and employer. The work is physically demanding and repetitive, with injury risk from tools, machinery, and heavy lifting. Automation is slowly replacing some diagnostic and assembly tasks.
Where the jobs are
Construction support roles cluster around major cities. Utilities and equipment servicing spread across metro areas and regional centres with larger industries. Remote work is not common. Jobs follow where factories, power plants, and construction projects operate.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 3999, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
- Attention to Detailcore
- Check quality of products on the production linecore
- Continuous Learning and Upskillingcore
- Digital Literacycore
- Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Time Managementcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Workload Self-Managementcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Active Listening
- Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
- Incident Reporting
- Inventory Tracking
- Process Improvement Identification
- Record Management
- Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
- Supplier Communication
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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