Australia’s demand for healthcare professionals has nearly doubled over the last two years, with demand for GPs rising by +84.3% according to the Omega Medical Jobs & Salary Index.
The Index, produced by medical recruitment agency Omega Medical Pty Ltd, showed that over the last 12 months there has been a +7% increase in the number of jobs advertised within the healthcare sector, signifying a +34.5% surge since February 2021.
WA dominated the regional 12-month analysis with an increase of +16%, with January 2023 setting a record for the number of positions vacant nationally.
Omega Medical’s Managing Director, Mr John Codner, explained that the +8.6% surge in national vacancies in the first quarter of 2023 was a reverse on the modest decline in the previous two quarters, and placed increasing pressure on employers to meet the demands of doctors and allied health professionals in a job seeker’s market.
“The demand for medical staff has accelerated again this year and there are ample opportunities for job seekers in the healthcare sector,” Mr Codner said.
“This bodes well for job seekers as salaries are sure to rise, but not for hospitals and clinics desperate for staff.
“Hospital demand is at an all-time high indicating that the medical sector is not feeling the effects of inflation, economic slowdown, or unstable geopolitical factors that have impacted other industry sectors in Australia.”
The highest number of job postings were for nursing roles – a trend seen throughout 2022 following the exodus from nursing that occurred during the pandemic, with an estimated 20,000 leaving in 2021, and a further 20,000 set to exit by 2025.
Locum vacancies showed the largest increase over the last three months with a surge of +10.4% to reach a record high in February 2023, with the number of medical technician roles advertised rising steadily up to +10.8% over the entire 12 months.
Demand for medical practitioners rose by +25%, by +4.9% for allied health professionals with a substantial rise of +17.6% in the demand for aged care workers.
NSW saw an increase in vacancies of +9.9% across both the public and private health sectors, while VIC was the only state to experience a decline in demand at -2.6% – and with its health system facing challenges, Omega believed that healthcare workers may migrate to NSW and WA, where pay and conditions were responding better to the acute market shortages.
Mr Codner explained that the Index highlighted the need for healthcare employers to adapt to changing work environments, including remote work and locum positions, and that employers who were willing to offer flexible work arrangements were more likely to attract and retain skilled workers.
However, the permanent job market was also strong, rising +7.8% in the first quarter and up 39.1% over the last 24 months, while part time rose by 24.3%.
“While everyone is aware of the acute GP shortages in regional and remote areas of Australia, there are unfortunately no quick fixes to the systemic shortages that have been building for years – in fact, the Index shows employers are crying out for full time staff to fill long outstanding vacancies,” Mr Codner said.
“These vacancies are hard to fill with unrelenting strain and a lack of resources driving workers, particularly nurses away from the sector.”
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare and social services workers quit at the highest rate in twenty years in 2021, peaking at 3% in November, and nearly a year later (October 2022) that level was still sitting at 2.5%.