The Australian Retailers Association is calling for further action from federal and state governments to alleviate labour shortages as the Australian Bureau of Statistics report 49,900 vacancies in retail trade in November 2022 - an increase of 8.2% compared to August 2022.
Overall, there were 444,000 job vacancies across all industries in November 2022, down 5% from August 2022.
Compared to pre-COVID (February 2020), retail trade vacancies has increased by 163.9%, with the recent lowest point of 29,100 recorded in February 2022.
ARA CEO Paul Zahra welcomed government initiatives in combating the crisis thus far, including fast-tracking working holiday visa applications, but said more urgent action is required.
“Retail businesses are at the coalface of Australia’s economy and our daily lives, yet they can’t secure enough staff,” Zahra said.
“The Government has made great strides in this space, increasing the cap on migration, improving support for women in the workforce and introducing the Work Bonus for pensioners – but it’s clear from today’s data that further work is urgently needed."
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said that despite the drop of 5% in overall job vacancies, it remains 12% higher than November 2021 (398,000) and almost double than February 2020 (228,000).
“While the number of vacancies has begun to fall over the past six months, we are continuing to see a greater share of businesses reporting at least one vacancy,” Jarvis said. “It was 28% of businesses in November 2022, a slight increase from August 2022 (27%) and more than double what it was in February 2020 (11%),” Mr Jarvis said.
“These figures continue to show the high demand for workers across many businesses and all industries, in a tight labour market.”
ABS cite that the decline in job vacancies was driven by the private sector, which generally accounts for around nine in every 10 vacancies. Private sector vacancies fell by 6% from August to November 2022 while public sector vacancies increased by 6%.
When compared with the pre-pandemic levels, both private and public sector vacancies were close to double what they were in February 2020 (up by 96% and 89% respectively).
Across the states and territories, the largest quarterly percentage decline in job vacancies was in New South Wales (down 12%) and Victoria (down 7%). The largest percentage quarterly growth was in Tasmania (up 13%).
While job vacancies fell in 13 of the 18 industries, they remained high across all industries when compared with February 2020.
This was most acute in Arts and recreation services and Accommodation and food services, where vacancies were almost four times what they were before the pandemic.
“High numbers of job vacancies in all industries continue to reflect ongoing labour shortages in a tight labour market, particularly in customer-facing industries,” Jarvis said.
Zahra added that labour shortages are affecting many retailers, saying that some stores are forced to reduce trading hours in response to worsening staff availability.
“It can be the difference between success and insolvency for small businesses,” he said.
“These shortages were exacerbated during the frenetic Christmas trading period - the most critical time of the year for retail. And the strain of labour shortages is far-reaching.
“You end up with staff who can find themselves overworked and burnt out, and shoppers languishing in longer queues. With longer waiting times, shoppers become impatient and the risk of antisocial behaviour increases.”
The ARA is calling for further improvements to childcare to improve workforce participation and financial security for women; national consistency around the minimum working age; continued streamlining of immigration applications and removal of red tape; and further supporting the long term unemployed, ensuring access to sustained work.