- Month-on-month increase in permanent and skilled migrants up 31%
- Hospitality jobs advertisement index shows significant decline
- Tens of thousands of job vacancies in the sector remain
The signs are looking good for the embattled hospitality industry, one of the hardest hit throughout the Covid pandemic.
Research from CBRE has found international visitor arrivals are on the up, with a relaxation in visa rules also providing relief. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data has also shown accommodation and food services turnover to have also risen.
Turnovers on the rise
Most industries saw a turnover rise for August 2022, according to the figures released today by the ABS.
Only one industry saw turnovers fall, information media and telecommunications saw turnovers move down 0.4%.
The ABS also said all industries recorded a year-on-year increase in business turnover, with accommodation and food services seeing a 72.1% increase. The ABS noted this was due to lockdown restrictions during August 2021.
Business turnover indicator, Accommodation and food services, seasonally adjusted
Over 30,000 jobs vacancies, but index falling
By July this year, CBRE research found there were more than 34,000 hospitality related vacancies. More recent figures from seek.com.au, as cited by CBRE, included a larger number of almost 60,000 vacancies, comprising 11,500 chefs, 14,500 waiters, and 31,000 cleaners
Despite that, CBRE’s Hospitality Job Advertisement Index saw a 60% decline in the three months to July 2022, with positive signs ahead:
“While the decline in the index has occurred amid inflationary cost pressures and interest rate rises, which may lessen the propensity of businesses to increase wage costs, the overall trend is encouraging,” said Troy Craig, Regional Director of CBRE Hotel Valuation & Advisory Services.
“A continued rise in international arrivals is expected to bring more desirable conditions for hospitality employment and we expect to see the significant imbalance between worker availability and demand to be largely overcome by mid-2023.
“This is being buoyed by the return of student and working holiday visa holders, aided by recommendations from the Federal Government’s Jobs and Skills Summit to extend visas and relax work restrictions on international students to help solve the industry’s critical jobs shortage.”
The state of change
CBRE’s report found the percentage change between July 2019 and July 2022 for hospitality job vacancies was substantial.
There was a 78% increase for managers, 95% increase in food, 99% increase in hospitality, 235% increase in cleaners and laundry, and a 158% increase in food prep.
The extent of challenges included some 10% of an entire company’s workforce, the report included an anecdote from Crown Resorts where there were 2,000 job openings from a total workforce of 20,000.
In order to attract workers, the report included an example from Australian Venue Co. who were offering $1,000 F&B vouchers and a $1,000 referral bonus to help fill 2,500 positions to cater for long lead function bookings.
Looking for safety elsewhere
CBRE’s Head of Hotels Research Ally McDade noted that COVID-19 and international border closures had fuelled the worker shortage.
“Prior to the onset of the pandemic, 23% of temporary workers, 68% of international students and 38% of all working holiday makers were employed in hospitality related roles,” Ms McDade said.
“Pandemic related lock downs also saw rolling closures of most hospitality venues, resulting in many workers leaving the sector in favour of less affected sectors of the employment market.”
Ms McDade said the critical problem Australia faced was competition with developed countries around the world for the same skills and capabilities.
“Australia has not been a destination of choice because of travel times, the cost of living and the fact that most visa opportunities are short-term,” Ms McDade said.
“The hope is that policies adopted from the Federal Government’s Jobs and Skills Summit will support turning this around by increasing the skilled labour cap and providing extra resources to reduce visa processing times.”
On the horizon
It is hoped that policies adopted from the recent Federal Government Jobs and Skills Summit will aid in making Australia a more attractive place to work. Those policies include increasing the skilled labour cap to 195,000 and 500 extra bodies to reduce visa processing timeframes.
The CBRE report also noted that while arrival rates are 37% below 2019, permanent and temporary (skilled and work) visa arrivals were up 31% month-on-month in July 2022.
