By Dylan J Stone
Skill and employment shortages have long plagued businesses across the Far West, and the 2022 Far West Workforce Development Report has now provided some concrete facts to support the anecdotal evidence.
The Report, the third of its kind since 2016, says skills and employment shortages have worsened since the Covid pandemic, and have now reached unsustainable levels.
There are some startling facts in the report about the lack of workers, for example in 2016, 32% of employers were unable to attract young people to work for them, in 2019 that figure jumped to 43% and in 2022, 52% say they are unable to attract young people.
The figures are even more dire when employers were asked about attracting employees who had the required skills for a role. In 2016, 38% of respondents who advertised a position in the previous 12 months were unable to fill it, but that grew to 46% in 2019 and in 2022 that figure now sits at a whopping 64%.
Business budget blowout
This has led to a significant budgetary blowout for business operators. When asked whether employee and skills shortages had impacted the operating expenses of their business, only 4.0% of respondents reported additional operating expenses in 2016, but in 2019 that figure had jumped to 40% and in 2022, 42% reported additional operating expenses as a consequence of staffing difficulties.
The pandemic years only worsened an already significant issue in the Far West. With many local businesses now struggling to staff their shopfronts against the backdrop of employee and skill shortages, the report certainly focuses attention on the issue.
Michael Williams, CEO of Regional Development Australia (RDA) Far West, says the report is a significant step in the right direction.
“The report has established a body of evidence that isn’t just anecdotal. We can now start some important conversations over the coming months, about what the report revealed, and what the report indicated were the most pressing regional development issues for this year and beyond,” Mr Williams said.
‘Many business owners and those in the community are aware of the key issues that are raised in the report, particularly in terms of employment and skills shortages. However, to see this information factually represented in the report, instead of just anecdotally discussed in the media, is very rewarding,” said Mr Williams.
Too many cooks…
“The report didn’t answer all of our questions, and actually it asked more questions than it answered, but it will allow us to meet with key stakeholders to then facilitate some broader conversations with the community about how we can respond collectively to what the report identified as the most significant issues facing our communities, without duplication.”
Secretary of the Broken Hill Small Business Association, Jack Dickson, agrees that duplication of strategies from multiple agencies and organisations aimed at tackling employment and skills shortages had made it harder for the community to resolve the issues.
“When different groups are setting the same targets and facilitating the same strategies to achieve the same goals, we’re not seeing the different skillsets of different groups being applied in a proactive way, and we’re then essentially missing the opportunity to resolve these issues for small businesses,” Mr Dickson said.
Mr Williams says the key question is how can the community attract more people to our region.
“We need to be asking how can we do this? How can we enhance liveability? Why are people leaving the region? And then building some solid strategies from there.”
Some 160 business owners took part in this year’s report and Mr Williams wants the community to read it.
“This document is used by us to show Government where support is needed the most in the Far West,” he says.
The full report can be read on the RDA Far West Website – https://rdafarwestnsw.org.au/
PICTURE: Michael Williams, RDA Far West CEO, with a copy of the 2022 Workforce Development Report.
