The solution to farm labour shortages is higher wages

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7News has run a segment (above) decrying the “wages war” between farmers, whereby “there’s plenty of produce to be picked and packed but nobody wants to do the work”.

According to the report, farmers cannot get backpackers in to do the jobs due to the COVID-19 hard border restrictions, and the “turnover of local workers is incredibly high”.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.