Worker Shortage in Victoria: How state’s decided to handle the situation at hand?
The state government is taking all measures to address the worker crisis in Victoria. As the federal budget is being presented this month, the state government is ready to take all possible measures to tackle the worker’s shortage before the budget is presented.
State’s peak business body Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry VCCI unveiled its plans to tackle the worker shortage which are affecting the multiple industries in the state making them difficult to survive.
The VCCI stated that the flexibility is needed in the visa conditions, to allow more migrant workers to come to the state and fulfill the needs of industries which are in dreastic need of workers to sustain.
Also the migrant workers can work in other much needed fields allowing the state to overcome the worker shortage.
This would allow the migrant workers like Nurses to work in hospitals in which they are employed and they can also work in aged care facilities to look after the needy. Also allowing the qualified and experienced foreign workers to work in areas with critical needs of skilled workers.
Fast track immigration is required with relaxed visa conditions to address the worker shortage in a short time. Victoria has been facing a shortage of workers since the Penedamic time.
Taking healthcare as an example, the VCCI, stated that this change would significantly address the care workers needs by the state by applying some meaningful changes in the immigration process.
Also VCCI asked the federal government to prioritize the need of skilled workers by considering the otherwise effect of skilled shortage on the country's economy.
The plan was drafted by considering the opinions of the various Victorian in different fields to get a detailed idea of the situation.
People stated that tourism is important for various small businesses to grow but as the closing of tourism had a bad effect on local businesses like the cafes.
VCCI also suggested increasing the International students intake in Melbourne which significantly decreased during the pandemic. As international students can help in fulfilling the skilled workers gap in local businesses such as cafes and restaurants. They were a great source of skilled workers before the pandemic.
Skills shortage was a main issue in Australia after the Pandemic. The backlog of visas and increased processing time of immigration applications only made the conditions worse. If this issue was not solved ealy it will lead to a great impact on many industries in the country.
