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Skill shortages in regional Australia: A local perspective from the Riverina

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  • Sharma, Kishor
  • Oczkowski, Edward
  • Hicks, John

Abstract

This paper examines the extent, mitigating strategies and consequences of skill shortages in the ‘food bowl’ Riverina region of Australia. Employing survey data, empirical models are developed to analyse the importance of firm size, firm age, regional market focus, and location and industry types influencing a series of skill shortage issues. Results indicate that half of businesses experience skill shortages. The consequences of hard-to-fill vacancies vary across firms and relate to lower productivity and higher running costs. A number of strategies are employed to varying degrees by firms including: recruiting internationally, training existing staff and employing less qualified staff to fill vacancies.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharma, Kishor & Oczkowski, Edward & Hicks, John, 2016. "Skill shortages in regional Australia: A local perspective from the Riverina," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 34-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:52:y:2016:i:c:p:34-44
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2016.08.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kishor Sharma & Edward Oczkowski & John Hicks, 2017. "Skill Shortages in Regional New South Wales: The Case of the Riverina," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 36(1), pages 3-16, March.
    2. Zhao, Sudan & Jiang, Yongmu, 2022. "Heterogeneous effects of rural–urban migration and migrant earnings on land efficiency: Empirical evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2019. "Migration, crop production and non-farm labor diversification in rural Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 175-187.
    4. Mangan, John & Trendle, Bernard, 2017. "Hard-to-fill vacancies: An analysis of demand side responses in the Australian state of Queensland," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 49-56.
    5. Bandara, Yapa M.W.Y. & Sharma, Kishor & Chakrabarty, Debajyoti, 2019. "Trends, patterns and determinants of production sharing in Australian manufacturing," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-11.
    6. Zhe Chen & Apurbo Sarkar & Md. Shakhawat Hossain & Xiaojing Li & Xianli Xia, 2021. "Household Labour Migration and Farmers’ Access to Productive Agricultural Services: A Case Study from Chinese Provinces," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    7. Oczkowski, Edward & Wong, Alfred & Sharma, Kishor, 2018. "The impact of major fuel retailers on regional New South Wales petrol prices," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 44-59.
    8. Mirko Guaralda & Greg Hearn & Marcus Foth & Tan Yigitcanlar & Severine Mayere & Lisa Law, 2020. "Towards Australian Regional Turnaround: Insights into Sustainably Accommodating Post-Pandemic Urban Growth in Regional Towns and Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Cörvers, Frank & Reinold, Julia & Chakkar, Saena & Bolzonella, Francesco & Ronda, Vera, 2021. "Literature review labour migration," ROA Technical Report 005, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour; Skill shortages; Regional labour markets; Food production; Riverina;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R22 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Other Demand

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