The staff shortage has come at a time when the retail sector is already wrestling with COVID-induced logistics pressures and record levels of consumer demand which have put pressure on global supply chains, leading to stock outages across the sector.
Paul Zahra, the former head of David Jones and the current chief of the Australian Retailers Association, said the labour market was the worst he had seen in more than 40 years in the space.
“It’s a perfect storm with international borders being down, COVID-related issues, and having a buoyant trading period, alongside low unemployment rates, which means you’ve got nowhere to go,” he said.
The ARA is forecasting a buoyant Christmas spend of nearly $60 billion, though Mr Zahra warned this could be threatened by the current shortages. “It will impact service levels, and it may impact trading performance at the local level. Is it crisis stage? No, it’s not, but it is certainly a significant hurdle that retailers have to overcome,” he said.
Some major retailers, including supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths and department stores Myer and David Jones, said they have had no issues getting in Christmas casuals, having kicked off their hiring sprees as early as August.
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