Australians have been warned to expect longer queues at restaurants and shopping hubs over the Christmas holidays as businesses struggle with crippling shortages of service staff.

Acute labour shortages have worsened heading into the holidays, as a National Skills Commission report on Thursday revealed almost a third of all jobs don’t have enough staff – up from 19 per cent last year.

A total of 286 occupations are now in “national shortage”, up from 153.

Federal, state and territory skills ministers meet on Friday to discuss fixes for the crisis, but Indeed APAC economist Callam Pickering warned there was no “silver bullet” and there were no short-term fixes.

“Nothing will impact these extensive skill shortages in the near term,” he told TND. 

“There just isn’t enough people to do the jobs we need done.”

Christmas chaos looms

Mr Pickering, who has just published a report into worker shortages over the Christmas period, said the retail and hospitality sectors will struggle to keep up with demand over the holidays.

He likened the situation to the chaos seen at airports across the nation earlier this year, where shortages of security staff caused people to miss flights and wait hours in massive queues.

The NSC identified occupations like chefs, retail workers and store keepers as among the jobs with the worst skills shortages in 2022.

“You’re going to walk into stores and feel there isn’t as many floor staff as you’re accustomed to,” Mr Pickering said.

Indeed APAC research found more employers were looking for Christmas staff this year than last, but despite this fewer people were looking for jobs.

Companies from Cotton On to The Reject Shop and Bevilles were looking for staff before the holiday rush, according to Indeed’s data.

Ministers meet on skills crisis

The warnings come as federal, state and territory skills ministers meet to discuss solutions to the skills crisis, with negotiations on Friday to centre on adjusting immigration levels and improving local skills and training.

The ministers will discuss the finer details of a new national skills agreement which will determine how funding for the vocational training sector flows from the federal government to the states, which run the system.

Federal skills minister Brendan O’Connor said on Thursday that plans to fund an additional 180,000 fee-free TAFE places in 2023 and lift the migration cap by 35,000 places (to 195,000) will assist with shortages.

“Federal and state and territory skills ministers will meet in person in Melbourne to progress a range of key vocational education and training reform matters,” he said.

“It is crucial that we work together to address challenges in the national interest and to obtain collaborative engagement on a breadth of priority reform areas,” Mr O’Connor said.

“As a nation we are facing the most acute skills shortages we have ever experienced and key to addressing this is enhanced engagement across jurisdictions and with stakeholders.”