Yahoo Finance Picky Aussie jobseekers are avoiding jobs, businesses suffer
Employers are “screaming out” for workers but are struggling to find them, the Employment Minister has claimed, pointing the finger at applicants.
Minister Michaelia Cash on Monday released the results of a survey from the Department of Employment which reported that nearly half (45 per cent) of employers had trouble recruiting in 2018. That was an increase on previous years.
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Around 60 per cent of recruiters looking to fill lower-skilled positions said they were struggling with jobseekers poor applications and presentation skills.
The report also found some applicants were approaching the interview too casually and had poor communication skills, were less enthusiastic and dressed inappropriately.
"We have an economy of opportunity and employers are screaming out for workers who are eager for a job," Cash told The Australian on Monday.
"Our focus will always be to get people off welfare and into work. Taxpayers expect nothing less," she continued.
"The Morrison Government strongly believes that the best form of welfare is a job."
The report comes as Newstart, the unemployment benefit, occupies headlines.
Cash last week said 78 per cent of those on Newstart have been suspended at least once in the last year for not showing up to jobs or interviews and for not looking for work.
She said the figures show the system works as people resumed looking for work after the punishment.
“It's all about ensuring that, as an unemployed person, you're either actively looking for work ... or, alternatively, you're participating in an activity that will help you into employment," she told 2GB radio.
However, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) chief executive Cassandra Goldie said perspective was required.
"I hope the minister understands that when you have the kind of findings that she's released today, it is the system that's the problem, and the automation has become brutal for people."
The latest jobs figures from 18 July found that 500 jobs were created in Australia in June, an unexpectedly small amount. The unemployment figure is also stagnating at 5.2 per cent.
The underemployment rate - or number of people who aren’t working as many hours as they would like - is also stuck at 8.2 per cent, something Labor’s employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor condemned.
“There are more than 1.8 million Australians looking for work, or more work, but unable to find it," O'Connor said.
"The Reserve Bank, backed by economists and state governments, has implored the government to lift investment in infrastructure to give the economy a shot in the arm, but the government has failed to act.”
With AAP.
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