Migration equals productivity

Labour shortages in hospitality are nothing new.

Ask any hotel operator what their number one challenge is, and they’ll say getting and retaining staff.

Actually, these days they’ll probably say sky-rocketing fuel prices.

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But I suspect that long after the latest conflict in the Middle East has simmered down, the labour shortages will remain a major issue.

While labour shortages in parts of our industry have eased a bit compared with the darkest days of the pandemic, we are a long way from out of the woods. There are more than 30,000 vacancies in the accommodation and food service sector at the moment. Key occupations such as chef, cook, and hotel and restaurant managers are proving near impossible to find.

And if it seems hard to find baristas, kitchen hands, housekeepers, bar tenders and chefs now, things are only going to get harder. Our sector is predicted to grow by 33,400 jobs or 3.5 percent over the five years to May 2030. That’s an additional 92,400 jobs in the ten years to May 2035.

The old adage of ‘needing the right skills, in the right place at the right time’ exactly describes our industry’s workforce challenge now.

There is no single, quick way to fix these shortages.

Of course, hiring Australian workers is always the priority for us. Australian workers are the most reliable and sustainable solution to workforce shortages. But at the moment, there simply isn’t enough home-grown talent available and willing to work.

Related AccomNews story: Addressing the chef shortage

When Australian workers cannot be found, our sector has to rely on skilled and unskilled workers from overseas—and we need governmental help with that.

The problem is any talk about migration can get bogged down in arguments based more on emotion than fact. But if we take the emotion and the politics out of it, I think our arguments are convincing. The simple fact is local training won’t solve the challenges we face and if we can’t get people with these skills, all other jobs are at risk.

The accommodation and food service sector employs more than 980,000 people in this country. And everyone who runs a pub, or works in a business like a hotel, is at risk if they have no one to cook the steaks or pour the beers.

A question I often hear about overseas workers is: do they share our values? Hotels are part of the Australian community and hotels want employees who share its values.

Visa holders are supported by local owners, managers and supervisors and can add vibrancy to the Australian communities they live and work in. Employer-sponsored migration can actually help ensure community values are part of the migration application process.

Another criticism I hear, particularly from those that live in Sydney or Melbourne—or those discussing the lack of housing—is the country can’t fit in any more people.

But almost one third of our jobs are outside of the capital cities, with this figure rising to over 40 percent if surrounding regions such as the Central Coast are included in regional.

In fact, Tasmania and Queensland stand out in terms of regional employment, with over half of the accommodation and food service workforce outside of the greater capital city region.

We think the visa system needs to be responsive to the needs of business and the Australian people.

Occupations such as nurses, aged care workers, mechanics, chefs, cooks, housekeepers and abattoir workers are all in need and there are some actions the government can take.

‘Employer-sponsored’ visa applicants should be given preference over ‘independent’ visa applicants by broadening the number of skilled occupations eligible for employer sponsorship and further limiting the occupations for independent migration.

We should also limit graduate visas to jobs where there is a legitimate need, such as the kitchen trades.

Visa hopping is detrimental to the integrity of the visa system and should be curtailed.

Visa hopping just encourages applicants to hang around without the real prospect of a proper job fulfilling a legitimate need.

We also think the visa system should recognise the value of working holiday makers and legitimate international students. This is especially important for regional and seasonal areas.

This article first appeared in the Autumn edition of AccomNews. Click below to explore.