Australia will have a skilled shortage of greater than 200,000 full-time caregivers by 2050 as the need for their services doubles in only a generation, with the Covid epidemic contributing to an earlier staffing shortfall than expected.
The Morrison government had commissioned the research but later declined to make it public once it was concluded in September 2021. The study was directed by Adam Boyton, the national skills commissioner.
In the elderly, disabled, and mental health care sectors, there will be a shortage of roughly 100,000 care workers by 2027–2028, growing to 212,000 by 2050, according to research issued on Monday by Brendan O’Connor, the minister for skills.
Over this time frame, it is estimated that the workforce needed to fulfill demand will increase to nearly 531,600.
From a headcount perspective, the imbalance of about 211,400 full-time posts is much bigger. It could be 285,800 employees short by 2050.
According to the study, “in the absence of significant technological advancements, many nations would face the challenge of diverting a growing proportion of the population of workers to the supply of relatively labour-intensive care and support services for the growing aging population.”
However, there will also be a lack of registered nurses, managers of health and welfare services, and nursing assistants. The shortages will be particularly acute in the elderly and disability care sectors.
According to the survey, 95% of the care and support workers earned less than the national average in Australia, despite the fact that salaries in the caring industry are highly variable.
Personal care and support employees, the largest occupational category, seemed to have the lowest weekly wages, $523 less than the average pay in Australia.
The second-lowest weekly wages, $268 below the Australian average, were earned by allied health professionals.
Health and welfare managers were the only occupation category earning $754 more per week than the national average in Australia.
In an update issued in August, Boyton stated that since the report’s completion, the situation has gotten worse, with a robust labour market boosting employee turnover and the Omicron variation boosting absenteeism in the industry.
The present macro-economic environment, which includes a labour market that is considerably tighter than predicted, means that the forecast gaps will be both bigger than expected and would materialize much more swiftly than was observed in the research, according to Boyton.
O’Connor criticized the Morrison administration for “locking a report in a drawer,” claiming that by doing nothing, it has made the industry’s issues worse.
The Liberal Government sought to avoid addressing the escalating crisis confronting the aged care workers, notably in elderly care, disability care, and care and support in mental health, so it kept the information hidden, O’Connor said.
In order to bring about the transformation that the care sector so sorely needs. The government is determined to work to enhance recruitment, retention, and efficiency of the care workforce.
The government’s commitment to establishing Jobs and Skills Australia, according to O’Connor, is a “key priority” that will expedite better workforce scheduling, particularly in the care sector. O’Connor claimed that the government’s support for an increase in wages for aged care workers would enhance working conditions for the care workforce.
