‘Skills shortage’ or complacent bosses? Tim Gurner’s ilk should stop whining about recruitment

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Employers are cynically jumping on the ‘skills shortage’ narrative to disguise their own frugality and laziness.

Tim Gurner (Image: YouTube)

Last week, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) released its inaugural annual reports on the labour market and priority skills, sounding the alarm on “extensive skills shortages … not seen since the 1960s”.

But buried in these reports and the attendant news articles, there’s a startling finding that’s been largely overlooked. The government agency found that when a job ad fails to attract an appropriate candidate, the vast majority of recruiters and employers will re-advertise with the same pay and conditions or give up altogether, with only 1% increasing their payment offer to attract talent.

While JSA noted this was “surprisingly low”, it was actually a substantial increase from the 2022 result, when just 0.4% of employers adjusted advertised remuneration.