15/02/2022

Tradies at the top of Australian business' labour shortages

A new study by National Australia Bank (NAB) shows that 40% of Australian businesses are experiencing labour shortages with tradies listed as the most common type of labour shortage, according to around 1 in 3 of all Australian firms.

Approximately 1600 Australian businesses from a broad range of industries and sizes were surveyed to share their views on how prevalent the labour shortage issue is today, their expectations for the next 12 months and how they believe the issue can be solved.

Labour shortages occur when employers struggle to fill labour vacancies because of insufficient labour applying for the jobs. For many industries this is not a new issue, but has been exacerbated by the pandemic and in particular, closed state and international borders.

Findings from the study show that, Australian businesses have clear opinions on how labour shortages can best be solved, with over 1 in 2 wanting state (56%) and international (52%) borders open. Almost 1 in 2 also identified increased traineeships & apprenticeships (47%) and migrant intake (45%) as solutions.