Crying out for workers

STAFF shortages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have left hundreds of thousands of jobs going begging, giving jobseekers once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to pick and choose where and how they work, new data shows.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Wednesday revealed there were 396,000 job vacancies in November – 169,000 more than before the start of the health crisis – coinciding with the easing of Delta outbreak lockdown restrictions in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

“Job vacancies continue to reach new record highs through the pandemic,” ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.

“Many businesses continued to report difficulties in filling their vacancies.

“These figures continue to show the high demand for workers from businesses emerging from lockdowns, together with ongoing labour shortages, particularly in lower-paying industries.”

Three customer-facing, lockdown-sensitive sectors had far more job vacancies compared with February 2020, with arts and recreation services way out front at the top of the list, followed by accommodation and food services, and rental, hiring and real estate services.

Along with manufacturing, and healthcare and social assistance, these five industries had more than 100 per cent greater job vacancies than pre-pandemic – up a staggering 270.6 per cent for arts and recreation services.

The figures show retail and construction sectors are also desperately seeking workers.

Administration and support services had the lowest increase in job vacancies but were still up a substantial 28 per cent.

Job openings were highest in Western Australia, up 120 per cent, likely due to its tough border stance locking out interstate and overseas workers.

Of all the states and territories, the ACT had the lowest increase in work opportunities, but they were still up a huge 49 per cent.