New research by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) has thrown a spotlight on job vacancies in regional areas with regional job advertisements growing three times faster than metropolitan Australia at the end of 2022.

Demand for doctors and nurses has hit an all-time high but they are not the only sector with shortages that leave local communities struggling to provide services. 

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday 24th, RAI CEO Liz Ritchie launched the Institute’s latest report, Regional Jobs 2022: The Big Skills Challenge, identifying the biggest gaps in critical roles. 

“This report shines a light on the unprecedented challenge playing out in regional Australia, as labour supply struggles to keep up with demand – despite population movement continuing,” Liz Ritchie said. 

According to Derek Francis General Manager of Bogan Shire Council, these statistics come as no surprise. 

“The reported statistics make interesting reading,” says Mr. Francis. “And they certainly support our experience in Nyngan.” 

“We have been able to attract skilled locum doctors to the Bogan Shire Medical Centre but would ideally like to have someone permanently based here.” 

“The biggest area of need for us as a Council at the moment is educators at our Early Learning Centre. The workforce in the early childhood education sector seems to have been hit hard as well,” he said.  

“As a Council we are working hard to make sure that Nyngan and the greater Bogan Shire are places that people want to live and work in,” said Mr. Francis. 

Early childhood services continue to face worker shortages.

The problem local small towns are finding is that a lack of filled positions such as childcare, means a skilled worker is unable to take up a position advertised in other sectors, which leads to a vicious cycle for employees and employers in filling vacant positions in rural and remote areas. 

In December 2022 a recorded 10% annual increase in the number of roles advertised in regions, outpaced growth in capital cities of 3%.  

The Internet Vacancy Index (IVI) reported in its monthly count of online jobs advertised by Jobs and Skills Australia in October 2022, that regional job vacancies grew to 94,100. More than double the pre-pandemic levels.  

More than half of all 31 regional IVI areas had Medical Practitioners and Nurses as the most in-demand position. 

“Medical Practitioner and Nurse vacancies in regions represented almost half the total national vacancies for this occupation grouping, despite regional Australia representing only one third of the population,” Ms Ritchie said. 

“The RAI’s decadal snapshot shows some regions have recorded five-year vacancy growth rates for Medical Practitioners and Nurses of more than 500%, with the North Coast NSW IVI region looking to fill more than 400 roles,” Ms Ritchie said. 

“Job vacancy growth year on year shows that the regions are falling further and further behind in trying to secure staff. Without intervention, the gap potentially will widen,” Liz Ritchie said. 

Most called for 

Regional Jobs 2022: The Big Skills Challenge, identifies the top four most in-demand online advertised roles across regional Australia for December. These include: 

· Medical Practitioners and Nurses – 6,166 

· General Inquiry Clerks, Call Centre Workers and Receptionists – 5,941 

· Carers and Aides – 5,416 

· Sales Assistants and Salespersons – 4,527 

With professional roles ( Medical Practitioners and Nurses rating as the largest number of roles advertised in regional Australia (26.7%), requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher, the other three occupation groupings in the top four are occupations that require a minimum Certificate III. 

“To strengthen educational pathways in regions to meet the demand for workers, understanding the most in-demand roles, on a regional level, is critical. 

“Each region has its own story to tell and the people they need to ensure it can accommodate the demand in vacancies – which in most areas are seeing three figure percentage increases on five years,” Liz Ritchie said.  

The RAI says that filling these positions would significantly impact the economy both regionally and nationally, based on early studies of economic modelling. 

“These roles represent a total of $1.76bn in direct wages paid to residents of regional Australia. Filling them would create an immediate $1.24bn in economic activity. The estimated 1,670 advertised child carer roles in regional Australia can potentially enable 11,690 parents/guardians to participate in the workforce,” Liz Ritchie said. 

The launch of Regional Jobs 2022: The Big Skill Challenge hopes to take the focus away from metropolitan areas to place a greater emphasis on upskilling and getting people into jobs in regional areas. 

“Tight housing markets and childcare access constraints are impacting regions’ ability to fill roles with people from outside the area. In 2022, more than 3.7 million regional Australians lived in a ‘childcare desert’ – equating to one position available for three children,” Liz Ritchie. 

“This report highlights the growth opportunity currently being presented to regional Australia, and the importance of accelerating support to enable regional Australia to play a bigger role in national prosperity,” Liz Ritchie said. 

The RAI has called for a National Population Plan, that looks at settlement patterns as a way of building framework for future pathways, through its  Regionalisation Ambition 2032.