Occupations facing skills shortages in Australia almost doubled in past year

Newly listed occupations include dentists, paediatricians, a range of surgeons, specialised nurses, and intensive care and emergency medicine specialists.

Other occupations on the list include technicians and trades workers, electricians, carpenters, chefs and mechanics, machinery operators, drivers and labourers, and community and personal service workers.

The skills priority list is used to help shape government policy on training and migration.

In response to the inability to fill vacancies, the report said, employers were more likely to restructure the organisation, give up on filling the position, or change the position requirements, rather than offer higher wages.

However, the report said that almost half of all businesses had reported increasing wages, salaries or bonuses for existing staff to address workforce shortages in the past 12 months.

The proportion of health professional occupations experiencing shortages went up by 47 percentage points in 2022, with the number of suitable applicants for health professionals halved.

It suggests the health sector has been hit with additional workforce instability by a temporary redistribution of the Australian workforce in response to Covid-19 and worker burnout.