Jobs in the retail market have surged to 46,100 in August, adding pressure to retailers in the lead up to Christmas.
In figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), this is an increase of 5,800 jobs, or 14.4%, compared to May this year.
This is despite a decline in the overall job market.
Australian Retailers Association (ARA) CEO Paul Zahra said retail was one of few industries to record an increase. He said this is a concern for businesses looking to ramp up their workforces for the festive trading season.
“Labour shortages are the number one concern for retail currently, with many businesses forced to reduce trading hours in response to worsening staff availability,” Zahra said.
“Unfortunately, this situation is exacerbating during the most critical time of year on the retail calendar – the Christmas trading period.
“In advance of the holiday shopping surge, retailers have already begun their recruitment drives for tens of thousands of additional Christmas casuals to cope with demand.
"However, with the scale of the labour crisis getting worse for retail, it’s unlikely that businesses will be able to fill all the roles they have available to trade at their full potential.”
Zahra continued, saying the figures align with the experiences of its ARA members, with over 90% saying labour shortages have stayed the same or gotten worse for their businesses in the past three months.
“Also concerning is that job vacancies in transport, postal and warehousing have increased 16.4% in the three months to August, while vacancies in accommodation and food services have also increased 13.9%,” Zahra continued.
“We had some quick wins out of the Jobs and Skills Summit, including an increase to Australia’s skilled migration cap, funding to speed up visa processing times, and the ability for pensioners to work more shifts without their entitlements being affected. However, the benefits of these initiatives won’t be immediate.
“We also acknowledge the Federal Government’s commitment to an Employment White Paper, with the terms of reference released today.
“However, with this report not due to be released until the second half of next year, we remain concerned this will unnecessarily prolong Australia’s jobs and skills crisis when immediate action is desperately needed.”
According to the Federal Government, its Employment White Paper initiative will provide a road map for Australia to build a well-trained and more productive workforce.
Despite the overall decrease in job vacancies across all sector for the past three months to August, it is still more than double pre-pandemic levels.
The number of job vacancies in August 2022 was 41 per cent higher than August last year (334,000), when the labour market was impacted by the Delta wave lockdowns.
The August 2022 job vacancies were also more than double what they were in February 2020 (227,000).
ABS head of Labour Statistics Lauren Ford said the large growth in vacancies through the pandemic coincided with a decline in unemployment.
“As a result, there were a similar number of unemployed people (488,000) to job vacancies (471,000) in August 2022, compared with three times as many unemployed people to vacancies before the start of the pandemic,” Ford said.
“Despite the overall quarterly decrease, the number of job vacancies continued to increase in some industries, such as retail trade (up 15 per cent) and Accommodation and food services (up 14 per cent).
“This reflected ongoing labour shortages in a tight labour market, particularly in customer facing industries.”
Across the states and territories, the largest quarterly percentage decline in job vacancies was in Tasmania (down 17 per cent) and Western Australia (down 7 per cent).
The largest percentage growth was in Queensland (up 9 per cent), followed by Victoria (up 5 per cent).
The industries with the largest percentage decrease in vacancies over the quarter were Construction (16 per cent) and Education and training (12 per cent).
According to the ABS, the decline in job vacancies was buoyed by the private sector, which decreased by 3 per cent over the three months to August 2022. At the same time, public sector vacancies increased by 11 per cent.
Looking ahead, the National Retail Association is calling on businesses to prepare for the tough competition for Christmas casuals this year.
Retail is optimistic consumers will pick up spending momentum as the busy Christmas season approaches, but interim CEO Lindsay Carroll said the industry is reliant on sufficient labour being available across the whole supply chain.
“Santa is definitely going to need some more helpers this year. Vacancies across front line retail as well as fulfillment and delivery need to be filled to secure the workforce needed to meet the expected demand of cyber sales and Christmas shopping.”
Carroll added that some businesses have already commenced recruitment campaigns much earlier than usual this year, and that’s because retail, like many other industries, retail has faced a critical labour shortage.
“The earlier businesses are advertising to fill these roles, the more hopeful they are to find staff. This is because unemployment in most states and territories is at an all-time low, so there are fewer job seekers in the market looking for work.’’
The impacts of the border closures during Covid meant that the migrant workforce that both retail and hospitality rely on has not been as available as what it was in previous years.’’
“With 88 days to go until Christmas, if retailers haven’t started their Christmas recruitment campaign, they should start now and lean into the support available to help fill those critical vacancies.”