Latest news with #labourshortage
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong minibus operators hail arrival of over 800 drivers from mainland China
Hong Kong has brought in more than 800 minibus drivers from mainland China as part of a temporary solution to the city's labour shortage, with operators hopeful the scheme will be extended to help plug gaps in the ageing workforce. Minibus companies made the appeal after authorities reiterated that importing labour was only a 'short-term' fix and that the workers were not meant to stay in the city in the long run. The government launched the labour import scheme in 2023 for three sectors that had been hard hit by manpower shortages. The transport sector has been allowed to recruit up to 900 minibus drivers. The Transport Department said it had approved the applications that it received from operators before March of last year. About 830 drivers had arrived in the city as of April this year, with 800 having completed their training and received driving licences. The workers were given two-year contracts. But minibus operators said they hoped the scheme would be extended to allow the imported drivers to remain employed for as long as possible.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Most in-demand tradie jobs paying nearly $3,200 per week amid crisis: 'Shining a light'
The most in-demand trades in Australia have been revealed, and concerns are being raised about what will happen if these roles aren't filled. The building and construction industries are facing a trade shortage due to a variety of factors, with electricians, labourers, and mechanics topping the list. NextMinute dug in official labour market data and SEEK job listings and found some roles are paying more than $3,100 per week. NextMinute's CEO, Alex Jenks, said this trade shortage is having devastating impacts. "They're slowing down projects, driving up costs, and putting pressure on business owners," he said. Tradie crisis exposed by $32 per hour job advert 'with no skills' required Major bank warning after ANZ customer left 'dumfounded' by cash issue Inheritance warning as 'disgruntled' Aussies left out of wills in growing trend: 'Inevitable' "By shining a light on the most in-demand trades, we hope to help employers plan better, and highlight where support or skilled migration is needed most.' NextMinute revealed there are nearly 22,000 current listings on SEEK for building and plumbing labourers. Similarly with electricians, there are more than 16,700 job ads at the moment, followed by close to 9,750 motoring mechanic roles. Plumbing and carpentry are also in hot demand as the twin industries try to keep up with the government's ambitious aim of building 1.2 million homes by and Plumbing Labourers: 21,994 job ads on SEEK with a median weekly wage of $1,634 Electricians: 16,725 jobs and $2,204 median weekly wage Carpenters: 7,737 jobs and $1,787 median weekly wage Plumber: 5,644 jobs and $2,000 median weekly wage Handypersons: 3,245 jobs and $1,307 median weekly wage Structural Steel and Welding Trades Workers: 2,706 jobs and $1,755 weekly wage Cabinetmakers: 1,099 jobs and $1,216 median weekly wage Structural Steel Construction Workers: 1,008 jobs and $3,120 median weekly wage The data also included the likes of plasterers, airconditioning and refrigeration mechanics, bricklayers and stonemasons, wall and floor tilers, fencers, and concreters, however they all had fewer than 1,000 active jobs. Those roles had median salaries ranging from $1,405 to $2,019 per week. NextMinute compared the SEEK data to figures from the government and found a startling disparity. The government's numbers were far lower compared to SEEK, with official labour market data showing there are only 713 job vacancies for labourers. "The discrepancy arises because job ads often represent multiple open roles, re-listed positions, or ongoing hiring efforts, meaning official vacancy numbers may underrepresent the true hiring pressure on trade businesses," NextMinute said. With tens of thousands of jobs needing to be filled locally, there is plenty of appetite from overseas workers. The UK tops the list with more than 2,700 monthly searches for Aussie tradie jobs, followed by 860 from India, 690 from New Zealand, 530 from South Africa, and 460 from the US. Brits were most interested in roles like labouring, electricians, carpenters and plumbers, while people in India were more concentrated to handyperson jobs. 'Interestingly, the countries showing the most interest don't always align with the trades in greatest need," Jenks said. "For example, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics have over 500 official vacancies, but little international search activity, pointing to blind spots in global awareness of Australia's workforce needs'.Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data
CBC
19-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Alberta hospitality sector says staffing levels have improved — but gaps remain
Canmore businesses struggling to recruit enough workers for summer rush, says local association Image | Help wanted sign in Banff, Alta. Caption: A help wanted sign is pictured in Banff, Alta. The Alberta Hospitality Association says staffing levels have improved since last year, but workforce challenges remain in the Bow Valley. (Bryan Labby/CBC) As hospitality businesses in Alberta prepare for another summer tourism rush, the Alberta Hospitality Association (AHA) said fewer hotels and restaurants are short-staffed or struggling to recruit workers compared to previous years. The sector dealt with labour shortages for several years coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the AHA, but the outlook for the industry's labour market has improved. "We've been hearing some pretty positive news," said AHA president Ernie Tsu. "We're seeing a lot of folks, secondary students returning back to the industry. Staffing has actually been fairly decent." Tsu credits the high pay offered at some accommodation and food service jobs for attracting workers back to the sector, which grew by 8,500 jobs from April 2024 to April 2025, according to StatsCan data. Job growth in the hospitality sector has come as some young workers in Alberta have struggled to find work elsewhere. The province's youth unemployment rate reached 17.2 per cent in April, up 0.9 per cent from the same time last year. Too many unfilled jobs in Alberta, says Restaurants Canada But even though more workers are employed in Alberta's hospitality sector compared to a year ago, there are still 11,000 unfilled restaurant positions around the province, according to Restaurants Canada. "We certainly still have big job vacancies, especially in the rural areas of the province," said Mark von Schellwitz, the organization's vice-president for Western Canada. "There are just not as many youth entering the workforce anymore, which is forcing our industry to become more creative, and try and attract people who are, say, retiring." Restaurant operator burnout is a concern around the country, von Schellwitz added. "They're trying to … cover off a lot of this extra work themselves in the absence of having adequate staffing levels," he said. Bow Valley businesses struggling with summer staffing Tsu said he's hearing good things about staffing levels in Calgary but shortages are still a concern in the Bow Valley. There are more hospitality jobs available in Canmore than there are applicants, according to the Downtown Canmore Business Improvement Area (BIA). "Many of the businesses are starting to see more resumes," said Gradey McMahon, the BIA's executive director, adding they're only seeing "100 resumes for 200 jobs." "The majority of the businesses go through it," he said. "It takes a lot of people to keep a restaurant on the go. So it's tough to go from winter slow to summer busy." McMahon said Canmore's limited and expensive housing continues to have a big impact on the labour market. Fewer rental units were on the market in April compared to a year earlier, according to the Canmore Housing Corporation.
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Labour needs new ideas on immigration
Among the slew of reforms to the immigration system to be announced today is a complete ban on visas for overseas care workers. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said this would take effect from this year and prevent local authorities and care homes recruiting from abroad. Since there is an estimated shortfall of 160,000 workers in this sector – and an ageing population means demand can only grow – where are the carers to come from? We need to ask some fundamental questions. Why is it that with more than nine million people of working age not in the labour market that we need to bring workers in from abroad at all? Of course many of these people are not indolent; they may be students, full-time mothers, early retirees and the like. None the less, there are millions living on benefits who could work but say they can't for a variety of reasons, often to do with physical or mental health issues. The growth in mental health claimants alone under PiP would go a long way in explaining our current labour shortages across the economy. It is not as if the jobs aren't there but the willingness to do them is absent. The reason is that care work is hard and does not pay very much. Many on welfare will judge it is not worth the candle. The solution, then, is either to cut benefits to the point where people have to work or pay care workers more to make the job worthwhile or a combination of both. The Government is unlikely to risk the wrath of Labour backbenchers by cutting benefits, so Ms Cooper says she will introduce a fair wage for carers, presumably setting a floor beneath which employers cannot go. The history of governments controlling pay levels is not a good one. Moreover, care home owners claim to be operating at the margins of profitability already without having higher wages foisted upon them. The same is true of local councils, many of which are being bankrupted by high care costs foisted upon them by central government. This is not to suggest Ms Cooper is wrong in her approach: the country is demanding a substantial cut in immigration and the two major parties are having to respond to the threat from Reform. But there are consequences that the politicians must be honest about. Ms Cooper says there are about 10,000 overseas care workers already in the country who came for jobs that did not exist and who could be recruited. That may be so, though where they are is anyone's guess. All the talk of retraining British people to do work they have refused so far to contemplate is fanciful. Unless Labour can provide new ideas to old problems, we can expect to see the same issues over immigration repeating themselves.
Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Germany urged to cut public holidays to boost war effort
Germans should sacrifice an annual public holiday to fund the nation's rearmament, a top economic institute has proposed. Europe's largest economy faces a crippling shortage of workers, which is undermining its effort to rebuild its military and embark on a construction programme to revitalise national infrastructure. Fixing the problem, according to the Ifo Institute, a think tank, must involve working harder, including taking less time off. The number of public holidays varies by state, with Bavaria benefitting from 13 days. Clemens Fuest, the Ifo president, said Germany cannot rely on extra borrowing and spending by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's new government to transform the economy. He said: 'The fact that loans are being provided for infrastructure and armaments secures the financing. But where will the labour come from to implement all this? 'Unless more labour is available than before, these spending programmes will increase wages in the defence and construction industry, causing workers to migrate from other sectors. 'Other industrial sectors would have to shrink, and staff would become more scarce in important service sectors such as health and care. Prices would rise everywhere, and many citizens would have to tighten their belts.' He estimates that the extra day's work would add €8bn (£6.8bn) to the economy's annual output. Germany would not be the first country to contemplate such a move. Mr Fuest notes that Denmark abolished one of its bank holidays in 2023 to fund a bigger defence budget. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has proposed a new school calendar without the traditional long eight-week summer break. In Germany, almost one third of industries say they are suffering from a shortage of skilled workers, underlining the need for more labour. Rearmament also threatens to make the shortages worse as more Germans will work for the armed forces instead of in civilian industries. The economy has barely grown since the pandemic, with output in the first quarter of this year almost identical to the level on the eve of Covid. Mr Merz's first move – acting under the old parliament, before new members took their seats – was to change the country's constitutional 'debt brake', allowing the new administration to borrow and spend more. Extra military spending is expected to boost the manufacturing industry, while economists hope that more infrastructure investment will improve long-term growth prospects. The measures have already had repercussions across Europe. The low-debt German government's borrowing costs are typically used as the benchmark for determining interest rates for other nations, and on to businesses and households, across the eurozone. As plans for extra borrowing from Berlin have pushed up its borrowing costs in debt markets, so has the impact been felt across the currency area.
