Unemployment drops in regional Australia but ballooning vacancies forecast bigger issues

Ballooning vacancies are already beginning to constrain development across whole regions and multiple industries beyond farm labour shortages.

Houghton said there was a lot of variation across the regions, with some still at 7-8% unemployment and others under 2%.

James Atkinson, an associate at SGS Economics & Planning, said the shallow labour pool was a major disincentive to the growth in regional areas of new businesses, as well as the operation and expansion of existing businesses.

The report found regional employers are demanding higher-skilled labour, with the highest demand for professionals accounting for one quarter of all vacancies in regional Australia, while technical and trade worker vacancies were the next largest group, accounting for 16% of all vacancies, followed by community and personal care roles at 13% of all vacancies.

The report recommended greater investment in the availability of quality post-school training and learning across regional Australia, as outlined in the National Regional, Rural and Remote Tertiary Education Strategy adopted by the Government in 2020.

A related problem, she says is the brain drain as regional students are less likely to return to the regions and practice if they undertake a component of their studies in the city.

Housing supply emerged as the second issue alongside educational opportunities which the report found was constraining labour supply in regional Australia.

Nash said while the increasing numbers of people moving to regional areas due to the pandemic has affirmed the value of living and working in regional communities, it has become harder to find a rental property or buy a home.