SWAN Hill region businesses are increasingly struggling to find workers, according to a new study, and councils are grasping for solutions.
The occupations most commonly mentioned as difficult to fill in a July survey of the Mid Murray region (Buloke, Gannawarra and Swan Hill shires) included registered nurses, hairdressers, chefs, motor mechanics and truck drivers.
The employers questioned said 28.9 per cent of vacancies for technicians and trade workers went unfilled, while 16.7 per cent of machinery operators and drivers positions did not find a suitable candidate. In contrast, all vacancies for clerical and administration workers were filled.
In state-wide trends, the regular survey showed that across all industries the amount of jobs not filled was about 7 per cent.
The survey showed locally a large proportion of employers encountered difficulty recruiting and were cautious about offering more jobs in future.
To attract workers, most employers used informal methods, such as word of mouth, with 41 per cent using informal methods only.
For more on this story, see Friday’s edition of
The Guardian (16/11/12)
