Skilled Workers Still Needed in Australia

According to Industry Experts, skilled workers are still in high demand in Australia with bosses struggling to find top-quality candidates.

The number of skilled applicants is at record lows despite 30,800 full-time jobs being axed in August, pushing the overall number of unemployed Australians to 663,600.

Hudson recruitment’s Scott Stacey said it was a myth that the skills shortage ended with the global financial crisis and that employers were now awash with good talent.

“The reality is it’s still tougher than ever,” he said.

Mr Stacey said the problem was due to skilled candidates staying in their jobs and not venturing out to seek other opportunities like they were before the global financial crisis.

“People are also too nervous to leave their jobs to improve their skills, so talent is becoming stagnant,” he said.

 “It’s certainly an employer's market but when this turns around bosses could be faced with an even worse situation in regards to finding skilled candidates.”

The market is forecasting that the official unemployment rate will rise from 5.8 per cent to 6 per cent this Thursday, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases its Labour Force figures.

However, Westpac chief economist Bill Evans believes that the jobless rate will only reach 5.9 per cent with 5000 jobs lost from the economy.

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