Border Closures Exacerbate Business Hiring Stress - ABS
(12 July 2021 - Australia) Businesses are struggling to find new employees in Australia as international and state border closures contribute to a surge in job vacancies, official Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data reveals.
The latest ABS job vacancy statistics show an increase of 57 percent in Q2 2021 compared to Q1 2020.
it is not just businesses that need staff, with the ABS showing both the private and public sector are in urgent need of skilled workers. The growth in Australia’s job vacancies over the quarter was concentrated in the private sector, which accounted for 66,000 (96 percent) of the increase. The largest increase in job vacancies since last February was in the arts and recreation services sector (170 percent), accommodation/food (159 percent), and real estate services (144 percent).
Importantly mining, manufacturing, construction and education are also scrambling to find staff for advertised roles. Private sector job vacancies increased by 25 percent over the quarter and were 61 per cent above February 2020 levels. Public sector vacancies, or government jobs, have also been negatively impacted by these changes, rising by 10 percent over the quarter and is now 24 percent higher than February 2020.
The Scotpac SME Growth Index also overwhelmingly found in favour of keeping internal state borders open as a key tenet for economic recovery.
“A lack of people migrating to the country is the main contributor to surging vacancies. There were around 362,000 job vacancies in May 2021, which was higher than we have ever seen in Australia. This was 69,000 more than February 2021 and 132,000 more than last February” stated ABS’ Head of Labour Statistics, Bjorn Jarvis.
“As many as 22 percent of businesses reported at least one vacancy, double the level in February 2020 (11 percent). Businesses across all industries have reported difficulties in filling vacancies” Mr Jarvis added.
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