Australian hospitality workers desperately seeking better pay

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The Weekend Australian ran a full page spread entitled “Australian hospitality workers, where the bloody hell are you?”, which complained about the ‘crippling’ labour shortages across the hospitality and tourism industries.

All the usual canards were mentioned:

  • “With closed international borders and strong domestic demand, critical staff shortages are seeing managers stepping in as cleaners and bar staff morphing into baristas”.
  • People who were struggling to get an interview just months ago are being offered a smorgasbord of incentives – airfares, accommodation, meals, higher wages, even refer-a-friend success fees of $250 a head – but so far with limited success.
  • “We’re so busy because we’ve locked everyone into Australia, but we’ve locked all the [foreign] workers out,” says David Allen, a NSW south coast publican who has been unable to find a head chef for four months, despite offering $80,000 for a job that usually pays $60,000.
  • “Some 78 per cent of Australian hotels are experiencing a skilled labour shortage, and that’s not including the countless non-skilled vacancies urgently awaiting applicants”.
  • “How did we get here? Border closures and the loss of overseas talent are largely responsible”.

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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.