Queensland will have a shortage of more than 50,000 workers when construction begins next year on venues for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, data is forecasting. Infrastructure Australia data comparing supply and demand for construction jobs in Queensland shows a supply of 42,200 workers as of July — just over half of the 83,300 required to meet current demand. That's forecast to get worse as the Olympics approach, peaking in March next year with a projected 43,800 workers to meet a demand of almost 98,500 — a shortfall of 54,700 jobs. Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said the government was pulling levers and he was confident infrastructure targets would be met. "The budget that we recently handed down had a record investment in infrastructure of over $116 billion in infrastructure across the state," he said. "That is the biggest capital pipeline in Queensland's history." Mr Bleijie, who is also the infrastructure and state development minister, said drawing workers from interstate and overseas would be instrumental to making up the workforce shortfall. "But they'll only do it if their workers can get a roof over their head, which we're dealing with with the residential activation fund … if there's opportunities and jobs, which there's going to be … they'll only do it if there's an industrial relations landscape that is good for business, which there will be," he said. Industry 'optimistic' Master Builders Queensland chief executive Paul Bidwell said meeting demand was a challenge. "We're optimistic that with goodwill and with the Queensland government, the federal government, industry and the unions working together we can deliver all that work, but it is going to be a challenge," he said. Mr Bidwell said state and federal government programs, like free apprenticeships for people over 25 years old, wage subsidies for small businesses, and financial incentives for entering the industry, will help move the needle. "The government doesn't have that many levers it can pull and I think they are pulling the right ones," he said. "Every bit helps. Alone, they won't make a significant difference but you add them all up and I think it will make a material difference." However, Mr Bidwell said productivity on big projects was equivalent to about three and a half days a week. "We need to be up to five days a week and that requires government, industry, and the union to sit down and develop some arrangements that will increase productivity," he said. He said interstate workers would be part of the solution but Queensland would have to expand its workforce. "In Victoria things have cooled off a bit, so there may well be business or individuals who are willing to come and be a part of that Olympic construction, but it's not as if it's going to be oodles of people coming in," Mr Bidwell said. "The best opportunity for us is to grow our own. It's about getting more apprentices, getting more young people into the training system and then retaining them so they come out the other end."