7 minute read
From the President
by Boylen
Job Crisis: 102,873 Job Vacancies… and Counting
DAVID BASHEER – AHA|SA PRESIDENT
WATCH VIDEO: https://youtu.be/ToruSxpYBfE
The ongoing labour shortage was catapulted into the public domain with last week’s Skills and Job Summit.
Many of the issues we have been highlighting in columns like this for some time – as well as in discussions with key decision makers - have finally gained people’s full attention. Those operating our pubs daily know labour shortages were an issue pre-Covid, but now is a full-blown crisis.
The AHA, represented by our National CEO Stephen Ferguson, was one of only 25 business groups with a seat at the table in Canberra for the two days.
Recent ABS analysis reveals that hospitality and food services have recovered the least from the wrecking ball of COVID-19, with conditions still not returning to pre- pandemic levels. Importantly, our level of job vacancies is second only to the health care and social assistance industry. Currently, there are 102,873 job vacancies nationally being advertised in our industry. We know there are many more not on employment websites.
Occupation - Vacancies
Chef 11,737
Sous Chef 3,130
Chef de Partie 3,892
Kitchen Hand 11,723
Pastry Chef 1,853
Restaurant Manager 4,601
Restaurant Ast. Manager 602
Café Manager 5,966
Waitstaff 11,878
Barista 23,057
Bartender 13,892
Host/Hostess 3,260
Housekeeper 7,282
TOTAL 102,873
WHAT WE’RE DOING
The AHA continues to lobby strongly for members on this critical matter at both Federal and State level.
Apart from our Canberra representation, in the past three weeks discussions have taken place locally with the Premier, Deputy Premier, the Minister for Education, Skills and Training and the Minister for Small Business.
Our goals are to raise political awareness of our industry’s unique issues and more importantly, to drive meaningful outcomes. To get results!
It’s true that the most important changes need to occur at Federal level, particularly around migration. However, there is still much that can be done in the State sphere.
The AHA was mortified in March 2020 when all temporary workers were strongly urged to leave our country. Overseas students, backpackers and other skilled migrants have long filled gaps in our employment market.
Now we are scrambling to get them back. But there is scepticism about whether Australia is really open and a miserable failure in processing visa applications has sabotaged our ambitions.
ACTION REQUIRED
Aside from clearing the backlog of visa applications, we need to:
1. Increase the cap on skilled and unskilled migration.
2. Ensure South Australia receives its fair share of those migrants and - critically – that measures are put in place by the State Government to keep them here.
3. Australia’s visa system must be competitive against global competition. Right now, it is not. Many of the people who could quickly fill our vacancies are being attracted to more migrant-friendly northern hemisphere regions. (As a result of the Summit, it’s very pleasing the Federal Government will now invest $36 million in visa processing to help clear a huge backlog of applications. However, given its been a problem for some time now, I’m not sure why it needed a skills and jobs summit to stimulate action.)
4. The housing shortage, especially in the regions, needs to be addressed for the extra migrant intake to be viable.
5. Award flexibility is required given the demographic of our industry participants.
6. Increase the opportunities for mature aged Australians to work without affecting their pension. In Australia, only 3% of pensioners continue to draw a wage. In New Zealand it is 24%. What can we learn from them?
7. An awareness campaign amongst mature aged people highlighting the transportability of their soft skills to our sector.
8. Our workforce is largely under 40. More affordable childcare will get them back into our pubs quicker.
9. Boost adult apprenticeships.
10. We all know there is a massive drop-out rate with the fouryear apprenticeships. Remedy measures can include: (a) reducing the length and delivery options of the apprenticeship and (b) financially incentivise apprentices and employers to ensure apprenticeships are completed.
11. Reversing the historic mindset that VET and semi-skilled courses are the poor cousin to university qualifications. A State Government awareness campaign is central to this.
12. 60,000 people left our industry nationally during COVID-19 as we were seen as an unreliable employment source. A Government campaign attracting workers back to hospitality and the opportunities we present would be very useful.
Many of the measures around migration may not be appropriate for times of higher unemployment – but we are in a low unemployment environment. Equally, some of our initiatives come with a government price tag. However, in both cases it may just require initiatives that suit the current times and need not be considered as “forever” requirements.
RETURN TO NORMAL, NOT ‘NEW NORMAL’
For close to three years now, both Federal and State Governments have been in our lives in ways we could never have imagined.
They have told us how we are allowed to behave at work, how we can see friends and family, even the terminally ill. They have micromanaged weddings and funerals, cancelled birthday parties, cordoned off playgrounds, even told how to undertake basic private joys like exercising and traveling. In some jurisdictions, curfews were a thing.
Oh, and you certainly couldn’t stand up and have a beer, whilst the suggestion of dancing was a major crime!
Remember when the Lucky Country was characterised by a ‘she’ll be right mate’ attitude? Through and post COVID-19, that seems a distant memory. We are still being overgoverned.
I was lucky enough to be in London as their 40-degree heatwave hit. Seemingly every politician or white-jacket wearing expert was offering advice to constituents who presumably otherwise had no capacity to think for themselves about wearing loose clothing, drinking water, not going out in the peak of the day. One expert even suggested that to beat the heat at night, pillowcases and pyjamas should be frozen.
WHY THE RANT?
For reasons we understand and accept, our industry is tightly regulated. Always has been. I suspect it always will. That should not be an open invitation for anyone who has had a taste of Covid-mandated overgovernment to unreasonably control our businesses.
We need to remove ourselves from the notion that the average person is incapable of looking after themselves and making mildly sensible decisions without government control. I absolutely agree we need to continue to look after the vulnerable. That is a core Government role. So is education and information.
But once informed, most of us can decide what we will drink, when we will drink it, and how much we can safely drink without Big Brother’s help. Just because we see a poker machine from 50 metres away or a gaming sign does not mean we will instinctively abandon our schnitzel and have a punt.
As we emerge out of the COVID-19 world, it is time for government to trust that the sensible law-abiding citizens of Australia can think for ourselves. It’s called democracy.
