Australia’s 2023 Employment Landscape: Too Many Jobs, Not Enough People

As the Australian unemployment rate remains at historical lows (3.5% in May 2023) and job vacancy rates in certain sectors remain high, finding the right talent continues to prove difficult.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, seasonally adjusted job vacancy rates continue to exceed more than 430,000 and are forecast to remain high. When considering the weighted volume of employees compared to job vacancies, sectors such as hospitality and retail continue to face immense pressure.

“Thank goodness the borders have reopened and we can access bar and wait staff on temporary visas” a client shared with me recently.

Are working holiday travelers and international students the solution? Despite high job vacancy rates, especially in the hospitality sector and retail sectors—35.5% and 21.5%, respectively—the seemingly simple solution of hiring staff on working holiday visas will only be a short-term, unsustainable fix. During the COVID-19 pandemic, visa rules were relaxed to ease the pressure on finding and recruiting staff to support businesses.  However, as we begin to adjust to post-pandemic life, these relaxed rules have shifted.

Recent changes

Effective 1 July 2023, the following changes are in place and enforced:

• • 6-month work limitations for working holiday visa holders have been reintroduced.
    • • Note that this time will not be measured retrospectively, meaning that employees will be able to remain in place until 1 January 2024, taking employers through the peak holiday periods.
      • These changes apply to all working holiday visa holders, so there could be a significant shift in employment opportunities post-Christmas as many workers will be required to change jobs at the same time.
  • Work limitations for student visa holders have been reintroduced as well. These visa holders can work no more than 48 hours every two weeks while studying.

Impacts

Considering these changes, human resources, payroll staff, staff schedulers/roster managers and workforce planners should remain alert to possible workplace breaches.

The Australian Government also recently announced it will introduce new laws to better protect migrant workers from exploitation. Under the new legislation, which will be introduced in the coming weeks, it will now be a criminal offence for businesses to force employees into violating their visa conditions. Also under the new legislation, both small and large businesses will be prevented from employing people on specific visa conditions if there is evidence of previous breaches.

Need to know more?
For further information on the implications of these changes to your business in Australia, please contact Partner Darren Gibson at [email protected].

This blog was published on 25 July 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 site, subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.