Australia's most in-demand jobs, as ACT businesses discuss federal jobs and skills summit

Later this week, all eyes will be on Canberra as politicians, executives, unions and industry delegates gather for Labor's highly anticipated jobs and skills summit.

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Culminating in a two day event across September 1 and 2, the summit aims to find solutions to the staff drought crippling firms across the economy and the country.

With a list of the worst affected jobs released ahead of the summit, The Canberra Times spoke to a range of businesses in some of the worst affected sectors to hear what they wanted out of the summit.

Here is what they have to say.

Chefs have a heady reputation; sweaty blokes drinking and shouting through graveyard shifts in a hot kitchen.

You might expect an ad for a chef job with daytime hours, competitive wage and a welcoming environment would be flooded with applications.

However, head-chef at Canberra-based meal delivery service Vood, Tamieka Hessenberger, said trying to hire staff was "torturous".

"At the moment, I would describe trying to find new chefs as borderline torture," she said.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found businesses within the accommodation and food sector had a 34 per cent increase in firms with job vacancies compared to the prior quarter.

Latest unemployment data also showed there were more jobs than people looking for work in July.

Ms Hessenberger said there were so few skilled chefs on the job market, many applicants did not even have cooking experience.

"They're applying for a chef role, and a lot of them haven't really even had cooking experience, or they've never worked in a kitchen, and that's scary," she said.

The struggle to hire staff has stalled the growth of the business, she said.

"Not being able to find chefs has majorly impacted our trajectory and our ability to be dynamic," Ms Hessenberger said.

"It's a growing climate, we need to keep up with it and at the moment, we can't, we can't keep up."

Being an insect farm attendant, which involves cleaning, feeding and caring for maggots, might not sound like the most appealing job.

However, the CEO of Hume-based start-up Goterra, which uses flies to process food waste, said she doesn't have any trouble filling the role.

It is the higher-paid trade positions, like electricians, mechanics and robot technicians, that are left empty.

"The current staff are having to do extra jobs," founder Olympia Yarger said.

"They're having to build up to two or three different roles and fill those gaps, and it's just not ... a sustainable way to continue.

"All of our agricultural award staff are paid in excess of 30 per cent of the award, and similarly across some of our service technicians."

Ms Yarger said a lack of immigration had made hiring a struggle.

A number of unions and industry associations, including the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have called on the Commonwealth to reform the country's "outdated" visa migration system.

"We've actually got a gap in applicants because the pool that would be coming in yearly of immigrants or holiday visa people have been reduced," Ms Yarger said.

The entrepreneur said she also wanted more investment in vocational training, particularly as start-ups become a greater part of the Australian economy.

"We have really reduced our ability to create a workforce of skilled tradespeople and people who are the doers of the world," Ms Yarger said.

"That's where you find those great people that can make an idea that you drew on a napkin come true."

It takes a special type of person to be a nurse, residential manager of BaptistCare Carey Gardens Jill Dexter says.

"They need unique qualities such compassion, empathy, patience, and the passion of caring for and helping others," she said.

But with low wages in aged care, especially compared to hospital and acute care jobs, she said the sector is in "crisis".

"Not a lot has been done over the years, until it's now a crisis situation," Ms Dexter said.

"The people who are [still] here have just worked so hard: double shifts, long hours. People are leaving. My colleagues are leaving."

Ms Dexter said there was one major issue causing the skill shortage in the care sector: wages.

The summit is also poised to focus on addressing the gender pay gap particularly in feminised industries such as health and aged care.

"I'm getting to retirement age; my residents are my priority. But I can see how the younger staff coming in, they've got children, they've got school fees, they have to make a living," she said.

"And with the inflation rate at the moment, they're struggling. Some of these people have two or three jobs, they're worn out."

Ultimately, Ms Dexter's biggest concern was for residents and patients.

"We need a good solid workforce to reduce the clinical risk to residents, and that's what we're here for," she said.

When considering a trade, arboriculture is not front of mind for most people, general manager of Canopy the Tree Experts Nathanael du Boulay admits.

Arborists are among the most in-demand workers in the ACT.

Mr du Boulay said high demand meant he was booked out for 2022.

"Maybe if it was easy to get employees, I'd get a second crew running for service to work. But I'm not particularly worried about that," he said.

But struggling to find skilled arborists has led Mr du Boulay to tap into an underutilised resource: women.

"Introducing women into the workforce, or into horticulture or into a trade ... it's a resource that needs to be used," he said.

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Mr du Boulay said he had success hiring apprentices, like Tyla Bickley, who make up for lack of experience with a positive attitude.

"If women choose to go into a trade, they're super passionate about it," Mr du Boulay said.

"[Tyla is] super keen. It's motivating for everyone to have someone like that, to have that energy."

Ms Bickley said she was nervous about entering the male-dominated industry, but sought advice from a woman in the profession before taking the plunge.

"I'm just loving it. It's so nice being outside, I'm learning so much all the time, I've never done anything like this," she said.

Arborists are one of 56 strong-demand occupations on the Australian governments top skill priority list.

However, the Canberra Institute of Technology said the Certificate III in Arboriculture does not appear on the 2022-23 ACT Skills Needs List and so is not offered by the institution.

Correction: A previous version of the Job vacancies by state graph used an incorrect data set.

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