POST COVID: THE REALITY OF THE AUSTRALIAN JOBS MARKET
24 March 2022
A VIEW OF TODAY’S WORKING WORLD
COVID certainly has done many things to many people. In many ways, it has shown flawed strategies in our governments and leaders globally. It has taught us where to be more resilient and in what areas as people; with that resilience reflected through our choices and interactions with each step we take. There is no question that the ‘pandemic’ and responses decided by those in power, has created a domino effect in our working world that will be felt for decades to come.
Small businesses have been decimated with many business owners forced to retrench employees, declare bankruptcy, sacrifice their life savings, dip into their superannuation and sell their homes. While there is significant financial and material effect experienced by many, the mental health impacts this decimation brings is unmeasurable on any scale.
Since the world has been able to resume to somewhat of a semi-normal state (think pre-2020), the fallout from loss of employment, coupled with mandates and businesses requiring what employees they have left to isolate if considered a close contact has created supply chain issues and shortages across multiple sectors. This is not only felt at a local level, but also experienced worldwide.
The Australian construction industry is one such sector that is truly suffering in the current state of play we are living in. Speaking with many business owners Australia wide, we have heard stories of these businesses rejecting hundreds of thousands of dollars of work. The reason? They are unable to meet the demands of their customers because they simply can’t find enough skilled people to do the work. On top of this, many also can’t source the materials they require due to supply chain issues.
Currently, we are in an election year in Australia. We are seeing our politicians play off on each other to sway the Australian public as they want to win. Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg proudly touted on his social media last week that unemployment in Australia is sitting at 4%.
It is easy to be skeptical of this figure, given the conversations we regularly have with business owners and candidates. Speaking with many of our highly skilled candidates, many are without jobs and on Job Seeker benefits due to the current mandates within their industries.
How can we trust this figure to be true?
It is estimated that current figures of Job Seeker payments in Australia are at 3.39% of the total population.
Source: Data.gov.au
In 2019, the Australian Bureau of Statistics quoted the unemployment rate at 5.3%. We ask, post COVID, with a percentage of Australians shut out of the economy, how can the national employment rate be lower than a pre-pandemic world?
Perhaps there is more than meets the eye to what we are being told by our governments and leaders.
Freedom Recruitment Agency is Melbourne based recruiting for roles Australia wide. We hold a highly ethical and morally sound approach to our recruitment method, supporting the wider community with their recruitment needs. If you are a business owner seeking assistance with finding your next outstanding employee, click here to learn more on how we can help.