Research released this week has revealed that the demand for 10,000 skilled workers has closed to just 1,000 since March this year.

The Clarius Skills Index study shows that Australia has reached the closest point between meeting supply and demand of skilled labour in a decade. The gap has reportedly narrowed due to uncertainty about Australia's current and future economic conditions.

Kym Quick, COO of the Clarius Group, said "As a result of the global economic situation and uncertainty about our own economy, which has been compounded by the Carbon Tax debate and talk of interest rate rises, we are seeing employers pull back on their hiring intentions."

The cautionary approach to recruitment decisions has seen 20 occupation categories close supply and demand shortages to a nearly 100% balance, despite shortages in some trades occupations.

Since March this year, demand for skilled labour has fallen by 1.6% (56,800 people), while supply has fallen by 1.3%, (44,700 people).

Quick said while the skills gap had closed, it was likely to re-emerge in the coming quarters, even if the uncertainty around the economy remained unchanged. She said that the skills shortage would widen again due tofactors such as the Carbon Tax, greater investment in the Queensland rebuild efforts and continued resource sector investment.

"While employers don't consider the impacts of the Carbon Tax to be immediate, they do recognise it to be an important factor in future hiring patterns. However, it will likely create new jobs in the future and add pressure on the availability of skilled labour," Quick said.

"On top of that we will see an increase in skilled labour demand as the rebuild efforts in Queensland ramp up and then there is the Federal Government's prediction of 500,000 new jobs to be created in the next two years, driven largely by resource sector investment," she added.

Despite the gap of supply and demand easing in the last quarter, a number of the skilled occupations recorded skilled labour shortages, with two reporting extreme skills shortages.

The occupations currently experiencing shortages of skilled labour are listed by persons:

  • Metal Tradespersons (10,900)
  • Chefs (3,900)
  • Automotive Tradespersons (5,900)
  • Wood Tradespersons (900)
  • Food Tradespersons (1,600)
  • Hairdressers (500)
  • Computing Professionals (1,100)
  • Building and Engineering Professionals (700)