The Great Resignation is sure to fire on the Gold Coast as well with unemployment rates rising

As unemployment falls to record lows and labour shortages hit new highs, workers spoiled for choice no longer have to settle for less than the best. HAVE YOUR SAY

Bosses beware.

As unemployment falls to record lows and labour shortages hit new highs, it seems the humble employee is now in charge.

And, according to conversations on social media sites, that could spell big trouble for companies.

A post on the Gold Coast community Reddit thread asking for comments on the worst places to work in this city was soon flooded with nominations.

Reddit users were unimpressed with number of workplaces on the Gold Coast.

I won’t name names, but while there were a few of the usual suspects – call centres and fast-food franchises – there were a few surprises too.

One that should sound alarm bells amongst the Coast’s many small businesses was a common criticism of family-owned organisations.

The objection being family favouritism and lack of professionalism.

Now, whether this is fair or true is not even the point … the headline here is that workers are spoiled for choice when it comes to employment and they don’t have to settle for less than the best.

Indeed, Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen from 3.9 to 3.5 per cent, with almost 90,000 jobs added to the economy in June.

The steep fall sets a fresh record low jobless rate since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) jobs numbers became monthly in 1978.

“The large fall in the unemployment rate this month reflects more people than usual entering employment and also lower than usual numbers of employed people becoming unemployed. Together these flows reflect an increasingly tight labour market, with high demand for engaging and retaining workers, as well as ongoing labour shortages,” ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.

And it’s not just the unemployment statistics alone that sound the alarm for employers.

According to the ABS, more than 1.3 million people – or 9.5 per cent of employed people – changed jobs in the 12 months to February 2022. That figure, known as the job mobility rate, was the highest since 2012.

At the same time, 2.1 million people left or lost a job … and yet the retrenchment rate of 1.5 per cent was the lowest on record since 1972 – suggesting more people quit working voluntarily than were sacked as part of Covid cut-backs.

And in May, job vacancies rose to 480,100 – an increase of 13.8 per cent from February 2022, and more than double the vacancies pre-pandemic in February 2020.

To summarise: people are no longer prepared to keep or take a job they don’t like. And the people of Reddit agree.

So what can employers do to not just attract but keep workers?

Well, better pay is an obvious start … and it looks like employees might finally be about to see a win there.

In fact, ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch says it’s already happening.

With Australia’s Fair Work Commission increasing the national minimum wage by 5.2 per cent and the modern award minimum wage by 4.6 per cent, she says wages growth is only set to continue.

“Things like tightness in the labour market, rising inflation expectations, more people planning to or actually changing jobs to take advantage of higher wage offers elsewhere, look like good signs for wage growth to accelerate over the next couple of years,” she says.

“ANZ Research expects stronger wage growth to be a good thing for the Australian economy.

“For several decades, the labour share of income has trended downwards while the profit share of national income has risen quite significantly.

“For the economy to grow sustainably and for the benefits to be distributed across businesses and workers – including the lowest paid – we need to see stronger wage growth going forward.”

But it’s not just about money.

A positive work culture, flexible hours and conditions – including working from home – opportunities for further training and education, all of this matters … sometimes even more than cold, hard cash.

And it seems businesses are already taking note.

The Australian Retailers Association said last Monday that, even with rising inflation, supply chain issues and increased fuel and energy costs, labour and skill shortages remained "top of mind" for businesses.

More than ever before, employers need to put their workers first if they are to get down to business.

So good luck, Gold Coast bosses … you have your work cut out.

Originally published as The Great Resignation is sure to fire on the Gold Coast as well with unemployment rates rising