A new report suggests regional unemployment is below four per cent. 

The Regional Australia Institute’s (RAI) latest job vacancy report says regional unemployment dropped to 3.8 percent in December 2021, while job vacancies rose 36 percent over the year.

“In regional Australia, the overriding issue is not finding jobs, it’s finding workers. With full employment in the regions, labour shortages are really starting to bite,” RAI chief economist Dr Kim Houghton says.

“While seasonal hiring patterns saw a 6.8 percent dip in advertised regional job vacancies during December, overall demand for labour is still strong, with more than 70,000 jobs available outside our metro areas.”

The strongest demand in December was for professional workers – accounting for a quarter of all job vacancies in regional Australia – followed by technical and trade workers (16 per cent) and community and personal care workers (13 per cent), the report shows.

Dr Houghton says the easing of domestic and international travel restrictions is likely to increase the labour pool, but that extra policy measures are needed to increase the size and capability of the regional workforce, such as boosting regional education and training, as well as fast tracking suitable housing.

“What’s needed now is investment in the availability of quality post-school training and learning across regional Australia, as recommended by the National Regional, Rural and Remote Tertiary Education Strategy adopted by the Government in 2020,” Dr Houghton says.