ABS Head of Industry Statistics John Shepherd said 74 percent of businesses cited lack of applicants as a reason why they struggled to find staff, followed by job skill mismatch (66 percent) and international border closures (32 percent).
This comes as online job advertisement platform Seek says the number of applications per job advertisement has fallen to its lowest level since 2012. Meanwhile, the number of job ads themselves remain at “extraordinarily high” levels.
Seek Managing Director Kendra Banks said there is currently a reluctance to apply despite the abundance of opportunities, and with more job choices, candidates were now more selective. At the same time, they are also putting greater importance on job security compared to before.
Commonwealth Bank Chief Economist Stephen Halmarick said he was surprised that the ABS figures were not higher.
Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) said ABS’s was inline with their own research into the labour market and said it was difficult for skills formation and development to keep pace with changing demands.
Willox said closed international borders remained a barrier that would continue to exacerbate the current skills shortage issue and constrain businesses to move past recovery.
“Businesses are taking necessary short-term action such as employing applicants without the right skills and skilling up; re-skilling existing employees; re-organising roles; and employing apprentices/trainees or taking on interns,” Willox said.
The ABS reported that over 20 percent of businesses expected to increase staff numbers within the next three months. Of these businesses, 61 percent expect the additional jobs to be permanent.
The top workforce actions planned within the next three months are to increase staff numbers, re-train existing staff, and increase staff numbers.