Toowoomba jobs: City bakery hires international workers as skilled worker crisis grows

A popular Toowoomba business has been desperate for staff for years, but the applications have dried up. As the skilled worker crisis grows, this is why its owner was forced to look abroad for employees.

Small businesses are turning to a global search in a desperate bid to fill staff vacancies, as the skilled worker crisis grows across Toowoomba.

City bakery Brumby’s Wyalla this week revealed the business had hired two bakers from the Philippines to keep the ovens firing, after no Australian applicants came forward to fill the positions.

Owner Denise Statham said she was forced to look abroad, believing the lack of Australian applicants was due to the vocation’s unusual hours.

“You know, and it’s really sad that we’ve got to do this,” she said.

“I’ve given Aussies a chance, and no one has come forward.”

Ms Statham said the lack of qualified bakers had taken its toll, including working 100-hour weeks.

Ms Statham said she also asked her 40-year-old daughter, a qualified hairdresser, to begin a baking apprenticeship.

“She comes here, works by night (and) bakes and then goes home, has a couple hours snooze, then goes out hairdressing … she works seven days a week as well,” she said.

Brumby's Wyalla owner Denise Statham can't get staff and is in the process of employing bakers from overseas using the skilled workers visa program. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The Wyalla Plaza store is just one of many small businesses crying out for new employees.

Bakers, in addition to butchers, chefs, tradesmen and aged care workers, are some of the professions the federal government’s National Skills Commission outlined as vocations facing staffing shortages.

There are currently 2471 job vacancies across Toowoomba and southwest Queensland. with community and personal service worker jobs at the top of the list with 185 advertised vacancies, data from the Regional Australia Institute shows.

The number of advertised job vacancies jumped to 25,554 in July 2022 from 19,620 in July 2021 in regional Queensland – a 30 per cent change within a year.

Classic Recruiting recruitment consultant Nick Hannant said the organisation had seen a surge in interest from both employers and employees.

“We have 18 jobs we are currently recruiting for, and that’s across all different industries. white collar through to warehouse jobs,” he said.

“We are advertising outside of the region and attracting people to come to Toowoomba from other regions.”

Earlier this week, multiple large Toowoomba businesses revealed hundreds of positions in their organisations were going unfilled.

“The lack of workers is certainly a challenge for us. From what I understand, it applies to most employers in the region, around Australia and the world,” Wagners non-executive chairman Denis Wagner said.