First there was not enough work. Now, there are not enough workers.
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Skilled or unskilled, hospitality or construction: positions opening up across Tamworth and the wider region are not getting filled, despite businesses starting to find their feet again after COVID-19 closures.
Wests Entertainment Group CEO Rod Laing said they had a workforce of 165 staff pre-lockdowns. They reopened with 90, and cannot add to their numbers.
In the last two weeks, bakeries in Tamworth, Inverell and Armidale have been unable to fill vacant entry level positions, according to Business NSW regional manager Joe Townsend.
Business is picking back up again for Wests, especially with events and functions, but they are "massively understaffed".
"We'll have seven interviews lined up for a job and only two will show," Mr Laing said.
"Before the pandemic it was very competitive, you'd advertise a position and you'd be swamped with applications."
While others are attributing the unenthusiastic workforce to the Federal Government's JobSeeker supplements, Mr Laing sees it another way.
"I understand why it's happening to us in hospitality, because the uncertainty in other states seen in Victoria and Northern Beaches, people in our industry can be out of work for a period of time just like that," he said.
"People can't handle that, they need income to go about their lives."
With our youth unemployment sitting at 8.5 per cent, there is certainly an opportunity for locals to fill vacancies.
- Joe Townsend
The Leader recently wrote about how some Tamworth trades found it hard to fill skilled positions due to tough competition with mining wages and Australians unwilling to move regionally.
Yet there is another facet to the problem. Roles traditionally filled by working holiday makers now sit empty.
Before the pandemic, these seasonal workforce would flesh out the tourism, accommodation and hospitality sectors.
"Presently there is no certainty for existing Working Holiday Makers. We've recently met with politicians, calling on the Federal Government to extend all current working holiday maker visas for an additional twelve months to encourage them to stay and fill our vacancies," Mr Townsend said.
But it's not just hospitality, accommodation and tourism lucking out.
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"Overall, we are increasingly seeing industry shortages," Mr Townsend explained.
"Some employers struggling to fill roles that would traditionally be filled by working holiday makers."
He said now is the time for locals to step up and fill the void.
"With our youth unemployment sitting at 8.5 per cent, there is certainly an opportunity for locals to fill vacancies," he noted.
"Now is a critical time to ensure that we have the skills we need [for the future]."
Mr Laing had been speaking to a number of businesses around town, and he said the inability to fill positions was a problem experienced "right across the board".
"Mechanics, builders, other industries - no matter who I talk to, people with positions for apprentices and trainees, they are all in the same boat: can't find staff."
Despite thinking JobSeeker wasn't to blame completely, Mr Laing said he'd hold out until March, when the scheme ends, before "hitting the panic button".
