Why hasn’t immigration solved labour shortages?

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Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro has published interesting charts from the latest NAB Business Survey showing that Australian firms continue to experience high labour shortages.

Labor shortages

Nearly half of Australian firms—close to a record high—claim that labour availability is a “minor” constraint on output.

A further one-third of firms report that it is a “significant” constraint on output. While this is down sharply from the record high in 2022, it remains above the previous peak in 2007 and way above the pre-pandemic average.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.