Automotive, health, hospitality industries experiencing shortages across the south-west

Warrnambool's Callaghan Motors dealer principal Steve Callaghan said he had been actively recruiting for sales staff and technicians for at least the past six months.

He has also put on three apprentices in a bid to train staff for the vacant roles.

"If we had the opportunity to put on three new sales staff and three new technicians, we would," Mr Callaghan said.

"We've been running campaigns for six months and I've talked to colleagues in a few other regional centres - it's the same issue everywhere."

Mr Callaghan said it was another challenge to deal with, as the pandemic had resulted in reduced production of cars.

He said there was huge demand for vehicles, but most dealerships across Australia had very low stock.

In addition to that, Mr Callaghan has about 13 staff members isolating while waiting for a test result or after testing positive to COVID-19.

Data obtained from online job website Seek shows there are 235 jobs advertised in the trades and services category across the south-west, which includes automotive trades and labourers.

The highest number of vacancies in the region was in healthcare.

Across the region there are 330 jobs advertised in the health and medical category, with aged care nurses, physiotherapists and dentists in high demand.

A Lyndoch Living spokeswoman said the aged care facility had been affected by the shortages.

"There are workforce shortages across the healthcare industry Australia wide," the spokeswoman said.

"The recruitment challenges faced by aged care are not limited to just Lyndoch Living. "Lyndoch Living is currently undertaking an active recruitment process.

"Lyndoch is extremely proud of, and grateful for the dedication, passion and care given by each team member."

There has been a 102 per cent increase in the number of jobs advertised in hospitality in the last quarter of 2021 compared to the last quarter of 2020.

Rafferty's Tavern owner Mark McIroy said it was an issue for all hospitality business owners.

"We've all got vacancies - I think it's been a challenge for everyone," he said.

"Hospitality has taken an awful flogging through this last two years of the pandemic."

The data also shows the average number of jobs listed on Seek in 2021 for the south-west was about 200 with an average of more than 400 advertised in 2021.

At present there are 195 hospitality jobs up for grabs in the south-west, more than 175 in manufacturing, transport and logistics and more than 130 in education and training.

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