Running her own business at 23. How Monique is beating the trade shortage one brick at a time

When Monique Juratovac swapped her make up brushes and hairdryer for a brickie’s trowel three and a half years ago, she had no idea she would find herself in the middle of a tradie drought.

This week, the Housing Industry Association reported that Australia is in the midst of a building bonanza, with more than 100,000 homes under construction. But the high demand and COVID related issues have meant that the worker shortage is at its worst since records began.

The biggest demand is for bricklayers, carpenters and roof tilers.

For 23-year-old Ms Juratovac, who started her own business MJ Bricklaying last week, it’s meant there’s plenty of work on the ground.

“I have had quite a few people message me to do private jobs,” she said. “I have always done more housing (than commercial sites) and that’s what I prefer. But I’ll always help out people close to me.”

Perth-based Ms Juratovac became a bricklayer after qualifying as a hairdresser and then a make up artist before making the switch to the building site.

“I left school quite young after being bullied and hairdressing was the avenue most girls went down – my older sister was a hairdresser,” she said. “I did three years of study but I wasn’t happy so I did a Certificate III in make-up. But that didn’t help. I needed a change.”

After investigating a number of trades, and a day’s trial on a building site, she was hooked.

“I was talking to mum about it and she said to give it a go. I did a day’s free trial on site and I fell in love with it.

“I love the whole atmosphere. I don’t have to do my make up to go to work, I can just roll out of bed. I get along with the boys so well – we have banter and it doesn’t even feel like work some days.”

Ms Juratovac (pictured below) also tested her skills against the best in her region.

“I won the WorldSkills Regional Bricklaying Competition in 2019,” she said. “I didn’t expect to win it. I was prepared for the worst but they said I’d won. Then they said I was the first woman to win and I started to cry.”

She has also won Apprentice of the Year – twice.

General manager international marketing for Brickworks, Brett Ward, said Western Australia, where Ms Juratovac works, is suffering the longest waits for bricklayers, with delays of up to 12 weeks, but all states are under the pump. Brickworks is working with the Australian Brick and Blocklaying Training Foundation to attract more apprentices into the industry.

“There are apprenticeships available – we have 30 available in WA right now,” he said. “It’s a major campaign to align the apprenticeship scheme with the major builders. It’s something we are working on all the time but we are competing against tech based jobs. Bricklaying is not seen to be as cool but you can run your own jobs and be your own boss.”

As long as you enjoy physical work, Ms Juratovac says bricklaying is a satisfying – and in demand – career. And these days, she’s calling the shots on site.

“It feels good. It’s scary and stressful but once you get your head around it, it’s good,” she said. “People are listening to me a lot more. Before they’d ask one of the boys but now that I am paying the wages, they’re listening to me.”

China’s securities regulator is ramping up support for the country’s embattled equities markets, announcing measures to funnel capital into Chinese stocks.

The aim: to draw in more medium to long-term investment from major funds and insurers and steady the equities market.

The latest round of policy boosts comes as Chinese stocks start the year on a soft note, with investors reluctant to add exposure to the market amid lingering economic woes at home and worries about potential tariffs by U.S. President Trump. Sharply higher tariffs on Chinese exports would threaten what has been one of the sole bright spots for the economy over the past year.

Thursday’s announcement builds on a raft of support from regulators and the central bank, as officials vow to get the economy back on track and markets humming again.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process of stabilizing the stock market, financial regulators led by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance said at a press briefing.

Insurers will be encouraged to invest 30% of their annual premiums earning from new policies into China’s A-shares market, said Xiao Yuanqi, vice minister at the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

At least 100 billion yuan, equivalent to $13.75 billion, of insurance funds will be invested in stocks in a pilot program in the first six months of the year, the regulators said. Half of that amount is due to be approved before the Lunar New Year holiday starting next week.

China’s central bank chimed in with some support for the stock market too, saying at the press conference that it will continue to lower requirements for companies to get loans for stock buybacks. It will also increase the scale of liquidity tools to support stock buyback “at the proper time.”

That comes after People’s Bank of China in October announced a program aiming to inject around 800 billion yuan into the stock market, including a relending program for financial firms to borrow from the PBOC to acquire shares.

Thursday’s news helped buoy benchmark indexes in mainland China, with insurance stocks leading the gains. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.0% at the midday break, extending opening gains. Among insurers, Ping An Insurance advanced 3.1% and China Pacific Insurance added 3.0%.

Kai Wang, Asia equity market strategist at Morningstar, thinks the latest moves could encourage investment in some of China’s bigger listed companies.

“Funds could end up increasing positions towards less volatile, larger domestic companies. This could end up benefiting some of the large-cap names we cover such as [Kweichow] Moutai or high-dividend stocks,” Wang said.

Shares in Moutai, China’s most valuable liquor brand, were last trading flat.

The moves build on past efforts to inject more liquidity into the market and encourage investment flows.

Earlier this month, the country’s securities regulator said it will work with PBOC to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy tools and strengthen market-stabilization mechanisms. That followed a slew of other measures introduced last year, including the relaxation of investment restrictions to draw in more foreign participation in the A-share market.

So far, the measures have had some positive effects on equities, but analysts say more stimulus is needed to revive investor confidence in the economy.

Prior enthusiasm for support measures has hardly been enduring, with confidence easily shaken by weak economic data or disappointment over a lack of details on stimulus pledges. It remains to be seen how long the latest market cheer will last.

Mainland markets will be closed for the Lunar New Year holiday from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.

Running her own business at 23. How Monique is beating the trade shortage one brick at a time

The latest round of policy boosts comes as stocks start the year on a soft note