Worker crisis to worsen as locals leave and foreigners stay away

Australians are heading abroad for more opportunity without the red tape. And foreign workers aren’t coming, fearing further state lockdowns.

An acute worker shortage is set to worsen as the international border reopens, with more people to leave Australia for jobs than arrive.

Recruitment sector leaders predict foreign workers are unlikely to turn up in the numbers needed for reasons including apprehension about being locked down if new Covid strains emerge.

They also say other nations are luring talent from Australia with better pay and less red tape.

“We are going to have a worsening of the skills crisis rather than it becoming better as a result of the opening up of the borders,” said Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association (RCSA) CEO Charles Cameron.

RCSA chief executive Charles Cameron.

“More people will be leaving than coming into the country.”

Workers in fields such as accounting were being offered salaries up to three times the going rate in Australia, he said.

And nations including the UK were becoming more sophisticated in their recruitment of young people.

Mr Cameron said there had never been such a gap between supply and demand of talent across an array of industries.

Recruitment firm Robert Half’s director Nicole Gorton said after 25 years in the industry, she’s never seen anything like the current scenario.

“We are used to talking to candidates about how they can secure the role. Now we are talking to employers about how to secure the candidate,” Ms Gorton said.

Robert Half director Nicole Gorton.

Pinnacle People managing director Wendy Mead, whose firm specialises in hospitality, said that usually at this time of year, her firm would have interest from hundreds of jobseekers from abroad.

“At the moment, we don’t have a single applicant,” Ms Mead said.

“And the people who are here say that the minute they can get a job behind a bar in the UK and travel Europe, they are out of here,” she said.

Ms Mead said in Europe it was possible to work in pubs and restaurants without being vaccinated or having the food-handling and responsible-alcohol service qualifications.

RCSA’s Mr Cameron said some overseas workers were deterred from venturing Down Under because lengthy lockdowns had damaged Australia’s brand.

“There are questions that are being asked that probably wouldn’t have been asked even 12 months ago about how Australian state governments will react if we see a new form of the pandemic,” he said.

Anuj Mundra is bound for the US. Picture: Tim Hunter

Mason, who is preparing to head to Europe. Picture: Josie Hayden

Financial auditor Anuj Mundra, from India, came to Sydney in May last year. But the 31-year-old hopes to be in the US by December.

“With borders opening up I’m able to move to explore possibilities anywhere,” Mr Mundra said.

Interpreter Mason, who asked that his surname be withheld, intends to head to Europe.

Mason speaks seven languages, specialising in French and Portuguese translation.

Working in Europe is an attractive option because the 25-year-old Melburnian won’t have to pay as much $2500 for Australia’s certification testing.

“Plus there are no French speakers here, or Portuguese, so I might as well go overseas,” he said.