Snapshot
- Large fines for employers advertising low pay rates
- Trade skill shortages remain a challenge for the region
- Outlook for this year is a busy CQ job market
Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill
Under the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, the first in a series of industrial relations legislative changes has come into effect. It prohibits employers from listing pay rates that breach the Fair Work Act, or relevant arrangements such as an award rate or enterprise bargaining agreement. Any employer found to be advertising jobs at a rate below the minimum wage will be charged a fine of up to $16,500.
This is one of many changes under the Bill, that also include changes to flexible working agreements, gender equity and express prohibition of sexual harassment, to name a few.
As the employment landscape changes in line with these reforms, it’s crucial that employers implement changes in their workplace to remain compliant and seek professional HR and Legal advice as required.
Job advertising remains stable
The team at Jobs In Central Queensland continued to be busy in December, despite the summer holiday season kicking off. We saw demand for workers across all sectors remain high and his was reflected in The Internet Vacancy Index (IVI) data for December 2022, which counts the number of online job advertisements published each month. Nationally, job adverts decreased by just 0.3%, or 820 adverts, to 272,500 in December, following on from a small decrease also seen in November. However, over the 2022 calendar year, job advertisements have increased by 6.3% (or 16,200 adverts). Queensland recorded the strongest increase over the year, up 13.7% on the prior year with an increase of 6,900 adverts.
At JobsInCentralQueensland.net.au we saw jobs across all sectors advertised, but particularly strong in trades, skilled construction labour and administration.
Current recruitment difficulties
While recruitment activity increased over the year, we have seen the proportion of employers experiencing recruitment difficulty continue to remain at high levels. The Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey (REOS) published by Jobs and Skills Australia, recorded an easing in this area of just 1% in November 2022, with 69% of employers reporting difficulty recruiting. Alongside this, Jobs In Central Queensland is working to fulfil employers' recruitment requirements, which in our current experience are continuing to increase. This will mean that the competition to secure skilled workers in the region will remain high.
2023 outlook
It is possible that the current recruitment intensity will ease as the year progresses, as inflationary rises and an economic slowdown start to have their effect on the job marketplace. Although we anticipate a rise in unemployment rates from the slowdown, the question is whether this will release the ‘right’ jobseekers into the market. In terms of talent, finding and retaining top candidates will remain an issue.
Even though we now live life ‘as normal’ alongside COVID, there’s no doubting that the pandemic changed our ways of working forever. In order to attract and retain employees, businesses will need to continue to provide adaptable and flexible approaches to work, and I am curious to see how this evolves over the course of the next year.
Onboarding of new candidates is an area that all too often gets overlooked, but it is critical to retaining talent. The ‘simple’ process of making an employee feel welcomed requires detailed planning and sustained commitment from managers. This is a particular area of interest for me and I would like to help more businesses get this process right over the coming year. For candidates, there will be more onus on them to demonstrate their suitability and motivation for roles, in a move away from the opportunistic or reluctant candidates we saw in 2022. There will still be plenty of opportunities for candidates, but to secure roles they may need to work a bit harder. At the very least, it is important to be specific with applications and undertake thorough research of the organisation you are applying to.
Our expectation at Jobs In Central Queensland is for 2023 to be another incredibly busy year providing dynamic recruiting solutions to the region.
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