Australia Has Workers, Just Not the Right Skills Where They Are Needed: Why That Matters to You

News · 2026-09-30 · 4 min read

Hiring in Australia has slowed, yet plenty of employers still cannot fill key roles. It is not that there are too few people looking for work. The problem is having the right skills, in the right spot, at the moment the business needs them.

How tough hiring has become, in figures

A new study by Remote sets it out. 88% of Australian businesses report that qualified local staff have become harder to find over the last year, against 78% across the world. Nearly eight in ten (79%) say they have fallen short of an important business target because the talent was not there.

The same message is reaching Parliament. Its inquiry into skilled migration has heard that Australia struggles to attract and hold on to vital technology specialists in fields like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and energy. Science and Technology Australia has also raised concern about strain on the local STEM pipeline, as demand climbs in AI, AUKUS, cyber, quantum and net zero.

Who Australian firms are hiring from abroad

According to Remote, hiring patterns are moving fast. From July 2025 to July 2026, Australian demand for senior software engineers hired internationally went up 141%. Game developers rose 100%, software engineers 86% and QA specialists 42%.

The source countries are shifting as well. Hires from the Philippines grew 108%, from India 89% and from the US 55%.

Training locally takes too long for urgent roles

Australia does need to train more of its own people in these areas. But producing graduates takes years, and a company that needs a senior engineer or a cybersecurity lead in the next three months cannot sit and wait. That is why sharper employers now begin workforce planning with the skill they are missing rather than a set location.

Hiring talent overseas versus sending jobs away

Two strategies often get lumped together, and they should not be. Reaching across borders to find scarce expertise is one approach. Shifting existing Australian jobs to another country mostly to save money is quite another. Both involve employing people across borders, but they solve different problems, and global hiring should not take the place of investing in Australian workers.

What employers are being told to do

Begin with the skill, not the place. Pin down the capability first, then choose whether to train, hire locally, sponsor a migrant or hire remotely.
Match the route to the job. Some roles need a person on site, and skilled migration can cover exactly those gaps.
Handle the complexity properly. Each new country comes with its own employment law, tax, payroll and benefits rules, so compliant systems are important.
Keep developing local people. Firms should also bring on junior staff, invest in current employees and ask whether training or internal moves could fill a role.

Growing talent at home matters too

Hiring from overseas can fix an urgent shortfall, but it is no substitute for long-term investment. Schools, vocational training and professional development need to line up better with what industry will need, and Australia needs clearer routes for people early in their careers and simpler ways for experienced workers to reskill.

Skilled migration and international hiring bring in expertise now. Local training builds the supply for later. Australia needs both.

The message for South African specialists

A cooler job market does not make specialist shortages vanish, and headline employment numbers say nothing about whether available workers hold the right skills. The strongest plans will be built around skills, using every route on offer, skilled migration included, alongside continued investment in Australian talent.

If you are weighing up a move, the research is encouraging: demand for specialist skills is real and lasting, even in a quieter market. Employers who cannot fill roles locally are looking further away, including sponsoring skilled workers who can relocate and work on site. For South Africans in tech, engineering and the trades, that means getting your qualifications, references and any English test results ready now, so you can move quickly when a suitable role comes up.

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