The Skills Gap in the Australian Workforce
Australia has boasted a low unemployment rate for quite some time now, but as you’re likely aware, we’re currently experiencing some of the lowest rates of unemployment ever in this country. Whilst this looks positive on the surface, it comes with a somewhat unfamiliar set of challenges for many organisations:
For contractors, it’s difficult to find people and even subcontractors to engage for projects.
For clients, finding quality candidates from a diminished resource pool is becoming unsustainable. Even the contractors they usually engage for key projects are picking and choosing the jobs they are willing to take.
So, what has caused this shift and created the skills gap in the workforce?
Well, there are two main reasons: the first (caused by the second!) is increased wage growth (which in turn contributes to rising inflation and vice versa), and of course, the ongoing impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic of the last two years — including almost zero migration and disgruntled workers let go during that time not returning to previously held positions. You can read more about the impact of inflation here.
Concurrently, we have not seen a return of the migrant workforce we’re accustomed to since our borders reopened last year — fuelled in large part by Australia’s geographic isolation (not to mention our political willingness to adopt strict lockdown measures) and the economic uncertainty we globally face. There is a large skills and people shortage in the broader workforce, resulting in unprecedented employment gaps.
Furthermore, over the last 12 months, a small but notable shift in power from employer to employee has started to happen, and as the economy rebounds post-pandemic, it’s driving the unemployment rate even further down. It has become extremely costly from a resource perspective to bring on quality individuals and contractors, blowing out project budgets and further increasing operating costs.
Can anything be done?
The situation may feel dire, but it should be noted that many indicators are pointing to the unemployment rate steadying with interest rates rising and skilled worker migration slowly increasing. Having said that, moving the conversation away from salary and wages and focusing instead on other areas such as work-life balance, flexibility in hours, remote working, workplace culture, and more inspiring projects leading to career progression in the business can go a long way in attracting and retaining quality individuals.
When it comes to hiring now, businesses should also remember that it’s not time to cut corners. Yes, it's hard to find workers and subcontractors, but that just means it's even more important to choose the right people for the job, who are qualified, licensed and fully trained to undergo work safely while compliant with WHS laws.
How Conserve can help
We’re here to help you navigate these challenges with our compliance management system. If you’re in need of finding contractors, remember our platform has a global search feature that gives you access to a wide pool of qualified contractors, already pre-registered and validated within Conserve. You can search for businesses by service, postcode, state, and so much more — helping you find the right people for your projects, even during a workforce shortage.
Get in touch with our friendly team to learn more about how Conserve can help your business, and subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates and insights!
