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Work factors affecting the career intentions of young construction workers in structured traineeship programs are not well understood despite the increasing use of such programs as pathways to career entry. To address this gap, work factors affecting the career intentions of participants in a construction-related traineeship program were investigated.

A questionnaire comprising measures of organisational fairness, organisation inclusion, time for life, job characteristics, and intention to pursue a career in construction was administered to 136 Australian trainees. Bivariate and logistic regression analysis explored the relationships and combined effects of work factors on career intention.

Trainees’ perceptions of the needs-supplies component of person-job (P-J) fit were a strong and significant predictor of their intention to pursue a career in construction on completion of the traineeship program. Specifically, the greater the extent to which trainees perceived a job in construction would satisfy their needs, desires or preferences, the more likely they were to indicate they would pursue a career in construction.

Findings provide new insights that can help to improve the industry’s ability to attract and retain school leavers in employment which is especially critical in light of the skills shortage facing the Australian construction sector.

The instrument used to measure subjective needs-supplies (P-J) fit enabled a fine-grained analysis of job characteristics considered important by trainees and their perceived availability in construction. Job characteristics relating to having work-life balance and health and wellbeing were of high importance but were perceived to be low in availability in construction jobs.