In our recent blog post examining Jobs and Skills Australia’s (‘JSA’) review of the Skills in Demand visa program, we highlighted the continuing role of employer-sponsored migration in addressing Australia’s workforce needs. To follow up on that analysis, we now focus on broader labour market trends, specifically as they relate to sectors and roles facing persistent shortages.
In further analysis, JSA’s examination of data from 2021 to 2025 reveals that while labour market pressures have eased across Australia as a whole, significant shortages remain entrenched across key sectors. More recent JSA data published in August 2026 points to a similar trend: Australia’s labour market remains resilient but is showing further signs of softening, while demand continues to grow for certain occupations.
Fewer Occupations Are in Shortage
In 2025, 29% of the 1,022 occupations assessed by JSA were in national shortage, down from 33% in 2024 and a peak of 36% in 2023. Of the occupations assessed, 69 moved from shortage in 2024 to no shortage in 2025, while only 29 moved in the opposite direction.
Other indicators paint a similar picture. Online job vacancies fell by 6.7% in the 2024-25 financial year, while the proportion of recruiting employers experiencing difficulty hiring fell from 55% to 44%. At the same time, the proportion of advertised vacancies successfully filled increased. Together, these figures indicate that some of the intense labour market pressures experienced in recent years are beginning to ease, though perhaps at a slower pace than desired.
More recent data suggests this easing has continued. In its July 2026 Australian Labour Market for Migrants report, released in August, JSA noted that vacancies had eased across many occupations as the labour market showed further signs of softening. However, demand continued to grow for particular roles, including Medical Practitioners, Nurses and Mobile Plant Operators, demonstrating that improving labour market conditions are not being experienced uniformly across occupations.
Shortages Persist Across Key Sectors
Despite this broader improvement, shortages remain widespread in certain sectors, as employers will know. More than a quarter of occupations assessed were in shortage in both 2024 and 2025, including many roles across health, education, engineering, science and construction.
More significantly, JSA identified 139 occupations that have remained in shortage for each of the five years from 2021 to 2025, with Technicians and Trades Workers accounting for more than half of these persistent shortages across construction, engineering and automotive trades. Professionals accounted for a further 37%, including roles in health, early childhood education, engineering and science. The table below shows how occupations in persistent shortage are distributed across the major occupational groups:
| Major occupational group in persistent shortage, 2021–2025 | Share of occupations in persistent shortage |
| Technicians and Trades Workers | 51% |
| Professionals | 37% |
| Community and Personal Service Workers | 5% |
| Machinery Operators and Drivers | 5% |
| Managers | 1% |
Regional shortages are also becoming more prominent, with 21 occupations experiencing shortages in regional areas without an equivalent shortage in capital cities in 2025, compared with 12 in 2024.
Trades Remain Under Particular Pressure
While shortages declined across all skill levels in 2025, they remain especially pronounced among occupations requiring vocational education and training. Some 43% of Skill Level 3 occupations – which typically require a Certificate III or IV and commonly involve an apprenticeship pathway – remained in shortage.
Similarly, almost half of all Technicians and Trades Workers occupations were assessed as being in shortage.
What Does This Mean for Skilled Migration?
The overall improvement in Australia’s labour market is encouraging, but the headline figures do not tell the whole story. Persistent shortages across trades, health, education and other specialised fields demonstrate that some workforce challenges may take considerably longer to resolve.
The latest JSA data reinforces this point. Although labour market conditions are showing signs of further softening and vacancies have eased across many occupations, demand continues to grow in particular areas.
Importantly, JSA’s latest analysis highlights the broader contribution of migrant workers to Australia’s workforce, with Temporary Graduate visa holders employed across industries including finance, retail, hospitality, information and communications technology, aged care, accounting and health care.
Skilled migration therefore remains an important part of Australia’s response to workforce shortages. However, as labour market conditions continue to evolve, the challenge is increasingly one of identifying where shortages persist rather than simply how many occupations are in shortage overall. The latest data illustrates this distinction: vacancies may be easing across many occupations, while employers in particular sectors and regions continue to face significant recruitment challenges. For many sectors, the fundamental reliance on temporary migration to fill genuine skills gaps has not changed.
Ensuring that Australia’s skilled migration settings remain responsive to these differences will be critical. Access to timely labour market data not only assists the Australian Government in determining policy settings and directing skilled migration towards areas of genuine need, but also helps employers understand where migration may provide a viable means of addressing their own workforce shortages.
If you are an employer seeking to address workforce shortages through skilled migration, contact us to arrange a consultation with one of our experts to discuss the options available to your business.
*All information is general information only, as at the date of publication, and should not be interpreted as legal advice. For an accurate and current assessment of your circumstances and visa options, please contact us to receive this advice.
