As the PM commits to regional job creation, vacancy rate hits record high

The Prime Minister has promised a regional jobs boom, but a record number of positions are going begging across the country and employers are resorting to desperate measures to lure staff.

There were more than 84,400 regional job vacancies in March, according to data from the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) released this week.

The RAI said that was a record high and a 27.5 per cent increase compared to 2021.

The number has nearly doubled since before the pandemic — there were about 43,612 job vacancies across regional Australia in April 2019.

Beauty therapists Brooke Wuersching and Sharon Saunders, who are mother and daughter, want to expand their business in St George in southern Queensland.

But after 12 months of searching, they still have not found a single suitable applicant.

“We’ve been advertising since May last year and we’ve done promotions on Facebook, word of mouth — it’s been really hard,” Ms Wuersching said.

She said moving to the area could be a big lifestyle change, especially for families.

More than 50 jobs are being advertised in St George across multiple sectors from agriculture to education, health to hospitality.

‘Real battle’ as vacancies soar

The RAI’s latest snapshot shows the top growth spots are in Queensland, with 24,235 vacancies, and New South Wales, with 23,987 vacancies.

Outside Brisbane, the regions looking for the largest number of workers are the Gold Coast, with 6,768 vacancies, and Far North Queensland, which has 6,483 vacancies.

In both regions the largest number of advertised vacancies were for medical practitioners and nurses.

Job vacancies in outback Queensland increased by 55.9 per cent between March 2021 and March 2022, with the Sunshine Coast up 40.2 per cent and Central Queensland up 36.9 per cent.

This week Scott Morrison committed to creating more than 450,000 jobs in regional Australia over the next five years.

Associate professor Ben Lyons, a University of Southern Queensland economist, said unless there significant investment and incentives were offered employers would continue to struggle to fill regional and rural positions.

“It’s been a real battle, to the point where businesses have really had to drastically change how they do … that basic processing and harvesting,” he said.

Dr Lyons said the worker shortage in regional areas was getting to the point where businesses were offering large salaries.

‘Driver’s licence and a heartbeat’

St George wine grower David Blacket has resorted to offering $1,000 bonuses to lure workers, provided they stay for three months.

“Scarce as hens’ teeth to get the good backpackers out here,” he said.

Balonne Shire Mayor Samantha O’Toole said it was challenging for rural areas competing against big employers in the city, where people preferred to live.

“I have joked publicly that you need a driver’s licence and a heartbeat to get a job in the Balonne Shire,” he said.

“I think we probably need a little bit of a change of attitude in the Australian job market, where people might think, ‘What are the other benefits of moving west?'”

After years of drought and the pandemic, business should be booming for Ms Wuersching and Ms Saunders.

But Ms Saunders said they were losing clients who could not get a booking because of staff shortages.

“It’s come to a point where we’re just sort of hoping word of mouth might help us out,” she said.

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