Travel restrictions and border wars: The state of Australia’s job market

The disparity between the supply and demand of qualified, skilled professionals in Australia and the pacific has created a tightened recruitment market which many industries are comparing to a pre-global financial crisis.

Hard closures on international travel and fluctuating state border closures are seeing serious implications for the country’s project delivery and economic recovery.

Research conducted by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment found a significant shortage in construction and infrastructure skill clusters.

With a drastic change in the labour force, infrastructure, engineering and mining sectors are being hit hard, with border closures leaving them high and dry for qualified skilled workers. This has only been exacerbated from recent snap lockdowns where governments have ordered a halt of operations, costing billions across the country.

Last month, Australia’s skill shortage was reported to push wages up, as more than a quarter of businesses can’t find the right talent. This is something which we are already witnessing, with salary counter offers and hourly rates being driven up. Additionally, businesses are operating at less than full capacity, putting pressure on existing staff.

The country has seen a massive injection of landmark infrastructure projects with the following states reporting in their 2021-21 Annual reports, respectively:

• As at 30 June 2020, Queensland’s project pipeline was carrying $16 billion of coordinated projects with a large portion of these jobs within Queensland’s landmark transport projects such as Cross River Rail, Brisbane Metro and the Gold Coast’s G:Link Light Rail.
• New South Wales reported a huge $72.2 billion infrastructure investment program to deliver road and rail projects over four years in response to job creation and economic recovery amongst priorities.
• Western Australia reported an allocated $6.5 billion for transport infrastructure projects in 2020.
• The Victorian Budget 2020-21 reported significant funding for landmark infrastructure projects including the Suburban Rail Loop, Geelong Fast Rail, Murray Basin Rail Project, Dandenong Corridor, and the construction of 100 new trams, among others.
• At 30 June 2020, the Northern Territories Department of reported $708.6 million on infrastructure programs.

Not to mention the Inland Rail project which will stretch throughout the country and transform interstate freight travel, and is said to create more than 21,500 jobs and $18 billion to GDP during construction in the first 50 years of operation.

So how will these projects be successfully delivered in this prolonged pandemic climate?

Many companies are taking a multi-faceted approach to the skills shortage by looking at their internal talent pool of employee skills. They are doubling down on training and learning and development to support existing team members, where as previously, they may have looked externally. This trend was recognised in the May Budget, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged $1.2 billion to the industry, including a $100 million skills package.

This is integral for the infrastructure, mining and construction industries as whilst being essential, the work undertaken is safety-critical, and the responsibilities that any one individual undertakes can significantly impact on operations; it’s therefore vitally important to have the right skills in the right places.