Sydney, July 25 (IANS) Almost 40 percent of Australian small and medium business owners are facing labor shortages, according to one of the nation’s largest banks. New research by the National Australia Bank (NAB) revealed on Wednesday that hundreds of small and medium enterprises say their staffing shortfalls were having a “very significant” impact on their ability to operate.
The survey, based on the responses of about 800 small and medium enterprises, which are businesses with less than 200 employees, showed that about one in three bosses expected the impact to continue over the next 12 months.
NAB Business and Private Banking Group Executive Andrew Irvine said the findings aligned with comments he had been hearing from business owners throughout the year.“When I’m out talking with customers, the number one issue they continue to raise is labor shortages — and this is across all sectors, and all parts of the country,” Xinhua news agency quoted Irvine as saying.
“Business owners are crying out for more workers people on the shop floor, laborers to finish off jobs, drivers, pharmacy workers you’d be hard pressed to find a business owner who hasn’t had trouble finding people to do the job.”
