TP Human Capital Townsville Region Jobs Report Feb/Mar 2024

The official workforce re-calibration for Townsville has been completed.  In February 2024 Townsville Region workforce official rate of jobs growth was still declining.  Staff shortages and cost of living conditions continue to frustrate many local businesses.  Job adverts remain steady in March 2024.  There is a strong pipeline of local significant projects, but can they all be built?  Stadium Season has started, while cruise ship season ends.  Local residential home production is insufficient, affecting external recruitment.  Townsville region needs an Olympics Skills Security plan to manage skill retention and recruitment.

TP Human Capital Managing Director Clayton COOK said “Official job numbers for Townsville Region are 131,900, down 1.7% in four months.  Townsville Regions unemployment rate is 3.6%, better than RBA Full Employment.  Participation has fallen 1.4 points to 70.1%.

Recent job adverts on SEEK revealed a diversified portfolio of jobs on offer across the Townsville Region.  The highest number of jobs advertised were in Trades followed by Healthcare and Education.  In total, on 28/03/2024, there were 1,885 (new & older) Townsville Region jobs advertised on SEEK. This is similar compared to last month. 

Many local businesses are experiencing record high operating costs with subsequent increasing pressure on workforce recruitment and training budgets.  Insufficient or inappropriate local accommodation is reducing local business ability to replace staff or scale up operations. In some local businesses, those dependent on discretionary expenditure, many are experiencing decreased demand due to high consumer cost of living. Some sectors are experiencing growth conditions, like real estate and construction, but a severe accommodation shortage is restricting business plans.  There is still evidence of FIFO activity and external overseas outsourcing.

The residential construction sector is a crucial element in a local economy and local business depend on a health residential market to operate successfully.  The residential construction sector is experiencing tougher conditions than many other sectors.  Townsville has a residential construction worker shortage, and each year loses a significant number of workers through retirement and relocation.

Townsville faces an impossible task to find sufficient tradespeople to meet its new home needs and every year Townsville doesn’t produce sufficient numbers of homes, compounds its inability to achieve future housing targets.  The local housing target is further hampered by major projects in other locations that lure Townsville workers. Adding complexity to a difficult situation, major local projects also absorb local workers. 

Finally, a significant portion of residential construction workers retire each year. It’s stating the obvious, but Townsville needs to increase the number of workers in residential construction and improve residential construction innovation.  It’s a multi-factorial challenge that requires a sophisticated collaborative solution.

Economist Dwyer Colin said, "Townsville Region is at Reserve Bank of Australia defined Full Employment.  The demand for labour across Townsville Region remains solid.  Many businesses are experiencing severe cost constraints and/or lower demand. Interest rates are influencing the rate of job growth in Townsville.  The number of new dwellings being constructed is insufficient.  The residential vacancy rate is tight.  A shortage of local homes is affecting recruitment.  Wages are rising, in some industries faster than inflation.  High insurance and a poor national crime reputation are influencing recruitment. There is a strong pipeline of local Significant Projects, but with strong competition from current and future projects we expect some local projects to be delayed. Stadium Season has started.  Cruise ships season has ended with a $4m impact or about $228.5 per passenger/crew.