What’s driving workforce shortages across our industries?

Project purpose

Workforce shortages are among the issues most consistently raised with Skills Insight.  

Across the industries we support, employers, workers, industry associations, unions and training providers continue to report difficulties attracting, retaining and developing the workforce they need. While shortages are widely recognised, the reasons behind them are less clear. 

In some occupations there are not enough applicants. In others, applicants are available but lack the experience, qualifications, licences or work readiness employers require. In many industries, regional locations, housing availability, seasonal operations, workforce ageing, training access, changing skill requirements and occupational visibility all contribute to workforce pressures. 

These differences matter because the same response will not work for every shortage.  

Skills Insight is undertaking this consultation to build evidence on which shortages and emerging vulnerabilities matter most; the shared, industry-specific and place-based factors driving them; their consequences; and the responses most likely to make a difference. This will help strengthen outcomes for stakeholders by moving beyond the identification of shortages to diagnose their causes, so responses can be better matched to the needs of particular occupations, industries and places. 

Timeline

Consultation through the feedback hub closes on Friday 6 November 2026.  

Past this date, you can continue to provide evidence and feedback on occupation shortages to our Industry Engagement Managers and by emailing [email protected]. 

Further consultation may include interviews, workshops, webinars and online discussions.  

How to contribute
feedback

Please review the project materials
before providing your feedback.

Provide feedback via
the Feedback Hub

Project scope

This project is testing how useful different workforce indicators are for understanding occupational shortages, where national evidence aligns with industry experience, and where industry intelligence can add context or address evidence gaps. It will also identify where improvements to workforce data, the OSCA occupational classification and shortage assessment approaches may be warranted. 

Drawing on existing research, workforce data and stakeholder intelligence, Skills Insight has developed draft shortage driver hypotheses for a selected group of occupations. 

To test our hypotheses, the project focuses on a selected group of occupations across the industries we support. These occupations have been chosen because they: 

  • appear repeatedly in workforce evidence and stakeholder discussions 
  • represent different workforce contexts and shortage patterns 
  • help test different shortage driver hypotheses 
  • highlight potential workforce data, occupational classification or shortage assessment issues 
  • provide examples of both current shortages and emerging workforce vulnerabilities. 

The occupations included in this project are not intended to represent every workforce shortage across Skills Insight-supported industries. Instead, they have been selected as case studies to help understand different workforce challenges and identify lessons that may be relevant to a broader range of occupations, industries and regions. 

Defining shortage drivers 

The project tests a series of hypotheses about the factors contributing to workforce shortages in different occupations and workforce contexts. The shortage drivers table provides a common framework for describing and comparing those factors. The categories have been developed by Skills Insight using workforce evidence, industry intelligence and contemporary shortage driver concepts, and have been used to develop the draft shortage driver hypotheses included in the Feedback Hub.  

When reviewing the occupation evidence tables in the Feedback Hub, please refer to these definitions and consider whether the proposed drivers accurately reflect your experience. We welcome feedback on whether the identified drivers are correct, whether other drivers are more significant, and whether important factors are missing.  

The draft shortage driver hypotheses are informed by Skills Insight’s analysis of nationally available workforce data. We examined indicators associated with workforce ageing, workforce diversity, training pathways, qualification scarcity, retention, workforce mobility, regional concentration and other workforce characteristics to identify patterns that may help explain workforce pressures and shortages. The indicators provide a structured starting point for analysis, but they do not fully explain workforce challenges on their own. Industry feedback is therefore critical to test whether the proposed drivers reflect real-world experience and to identify factors that workforce data may not capture.

Download the shortage driver indicators table to explore the indicators, understand what they suggest about each occupation, and see how they contributed to the draft shortage driver hypotheses. 

Download detailed shortages driver indicators table

Workforce pressures associated with ageing workforces, replacement needs, or reliance on particular worker cohorts. This includes circumstances where groups such as women, mature-aged people, people with disability, First Nations people, temporary migrants or culturally and linguistically diverse communities may be underutilised or disproportionately relied upon.  

Workforce shortages arising where training facilities, placements, trainers or delivery capacity are insufficient to meet workforce needs. This includes constraints related to funding, availability, training duration, or the absence of accessible entry pathways into an occupation. 

High costs and time requirements for education and training can deter private investment in workforce development. Costs are borne upfront, while the benefits of increased capability and productivity may not be realised until much later, contributing to underinvestment.  

Pay, working conditions, career progression, and work security can create shortages. Workers may move to other occupations or employers that offer better outcomes. 

Workforce pressures associated with regional, rural or remote locations where access to housing, health services, education, childcare, transport, job opportunities for family members, or other community infrastructure may affect attraction and retention.  

Shortages arising from limited awareness of occupations, narrow recruitment practices, poor job design, or barriers that reduce the pool of potential applicants. This may include inflexible work arrangements, poor workplace culture, or insufficiently inclusive workplaces. 

Workforce shortages arising where workers must meet requirements beyond formal qualifications before they can practise effectively. These may include licences, registration, certification, examinations, memberships or substantial workplace experience, which can extend the time required to become job-ready. 

Available data is insufficient to confidently assess workforce conditions or shortage drivers. This may occur where occupations are poorly represented in classifications or reliable workforce evidence is limited, reducing visibility in workforce planning and policy processes. 

Long-term shifts increasing labour demand, e.g. climate adaptation, clean energy transition, biosecurity risks, aged care demand, technology adoption 

Temporary or cyclical surges, e.g. housing construction, infrastructure pipelines, disaster recovery, major events. 

New standards, compliance requirements or funded programs increasing demand for particular occupations. 

View the draft and provide feedback 

By clicking on this Feedback Hub link you can post comments directly on the draft document as well as view comments from others. Your comments will remain anonymous. Read the full User Instructions. Only Skills Insight staff and contractors working directly on the project can identify users. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. The feedback hub is also moderated to avoid misuse.     

Each occupation has been assigned draft primary and secondary shortage drivers based on available quantitative and qualitative evidence. These hypotheses are intended to be tested and refined through industry consultation. You can use the questions below to guide comments in the Feedback Hub or a written response. 

If you’d prefer to download and work on the document in Word format, or provide a separate written response, please email your input to [email protected]. 

Important

Please highlight the ANZSCO code of the occupation you are providing feedback on, and include the ANZSCO code in your comment. This helps ensure feedback can be accurately linked to the relevant occupation and analysed alongside other evidence. 

Note: You do not need to comment on every occupation. Please focus on occupations where you have direct knowledge or experience. If you wish to provide feedback on occupations that are not included in the draft list, please email [email protected]  so it can be incorporated into our broader workforce planning evidence base.

Use the questions below to guide your comments in the Feedback Hub

  • Do the proposed primary and secondary shortage drivers accurately explain workforce challenges in this occupation? 
  • Are other shortage drivers more significant than those proposed? If so, why? 
  • Have workforce pressures changed over time? If so, what factors contributed to those changes? 
  • Do the drivers vary between regions, industries, workplaces or seasons? 

  • Are there workforce pressures that are visible in industry but difficult to measure? 
  • Are there limitations in available data, OSCA occupational descriptions or shortage assessments that affect how this occupation is understood? 

  • Is the shortage related to worker numbers, specific skills, experience, licences, registrations, supervision capability or work readiness? 
  • Are particular groups of workers under-represented or facing barriers to entry, progression or retention? 
  • Are there occupations where capability shortages are more significant than labour shortages? 

  • Are workforce pressures concentrated in particular metropolitan, regional, rural or remote locations? 
  • Are there seasonal, operational or other timing-related factors affecting workforce supply or demand? 

  • How do workforce shortages affect business performance, productivity, capability, safety, compliance, workforce wellbeing or growth? 
  • What impacts are being experienced by employers, workers, customers or communities? 

  • What approaches have already been tried? 
  • What has been effective or ineffective, and why? 

We also welcome written responses to expand on your experience of shortages. In particular, we would like to understand: 

Do the proposed shortage drivers reflect your experience?

  • Do the proposed primary and secondary shortage drivers accurately explain workforce challenges in this occupation?
  • Are other shortage drivers more significant than those proposed? If so, why?
  • Have workforce pressures changed over time? If so, what factors contributed to those changes?
  • Do the drivers vary between regions, industries, workplaces or seasons?

What does the evidence miss?

  • Are there workforce pressures that are visible in industry but difficult to measure?
  • Are there limitations in available data, OSCA occupational descriptions or shortage assessments that affect how this occupation is understood?

Who or what is missing?

  • Is the shortage related to worker numbers, specific skills, experience, licences, registrations, supervision capability or work readiness?
  • Are particular groups of workers under-represented or facing barriers to entry, progression or retention?
  • Are there occupations where capability shortages are more significant than labour shortages?

Where and when are challenges most significant?

  • Are workforce pressures concentrated in particular metropolitan, regional, rural or remote locations?
  • Are there seasonal, operational or other timing-related factors affecting workforce supply or demand?

What are the consequences?

  • How do workforce shortages affect business performance, productivity, capability, safety, compliance, workforce wellbeing or growth?
  • What impacts are being experienced by employers, workers, customers or communities?

What responses may help?

  • What approaches have already been tried?
  • What has been effective or ineffective, and why?

Examples, case studies, regional intelligence, workforce data, industry reports and practical workplace experience are all valuable contributions.

Important

In your written response, please define the ANZSCO code or title of the occupation you are providing feedback on. This helps ensure feedback can be accurately linked to the relevant occupation/s and analysed alongside other evidence.

Note: You do not need to comment on every occupation. Please focus on occupations where you have direct knowledge or experience. If you wish to provide feedback on occupations that are not included in the draft list, please email [email protected]  so it can be incorporated into our broader workforce planning evidence base.