Is your Industry Association lobbying for 1 July changes for Restaurant Managers?

An interesting attitude by the Government is that Café and Restaurant Managers do not appear to be highly skilled or wanted in Australia as a long term option, rather they are deemed suitable for a short stint.

What do they look for when they make these decisions? I confess, it remains a mystery to me. If you have a look at the following statistics from Governments own Job Outlook (joboutlook.gov.au) website it is astonishing that we are restricting this occupation.

• Over the five years to November 2019, the number of job openings for Cafe and Restaurant Managers is expected to be above average (between 25,001 and 50,000). Job openings count both employment growth and turnover (defined as workers leaving their occupation for other employment or leaving the workforce).
• Employment for this occupation rose strongly (in percentage terms) in the past five years and rose strongly in the long-term (ten years). Looking forward, employment for Cafe and Restaurant Managers to November 2020 is expected to grow very strongly.
• This is a very large occupation (73,000 in November 2015) suggesting that opportunities should be available in most regions.
• Cafe and Restaurant Managers have an above average proportion of full-time jobs (81.6 per cent). For Cafe and Restaurant Managers working full-time, average weekly hours are 46.0 (compared to 40.2 for all occupations) and earnings are below average – in the third decile. Unemployment for Cafe and Restaurant Managers is average.

The above chart shows that as an occupation, it performs in the top 20% for employment level and growth and sits on the average for unemployment. I would not hesitate to say that if you are a reasonable skilled Restaurant Manager and you are unemployed then you may not be all that keen on a job.

This then raises the question, do the Government believe that occupations that are not as highly skilled as others are not worth having in our economy? In the past week I have spoken to three operators who, after they have fully understood the implications of this have indicated future expansion plans are going on hold until they can gauge the impact of these changes.

That is Australian jobs, in one of the faster growing industries in Australia will not be created due to these changes.

It is crucial that as business owners you are lobbying your industry associations to ensure they are pleading the case to have the occupation moved onto the Medium Term List that allows the applicants a path way to permanent residency. They are not a highly paid occupation but they overwhelmingly stay in Australia, remained employed in the industry and many end up being the next business owners employing young Australians.

The government is meeting all this month with Industry Associations to listen to their occupations to be included in the Medium Term list which will be announced on the 1^st July.

Your associations are;

Restaurant & Caterers  – http://rca.asn.au/rca/

Australian Hoteliers Association – http://aha.org.au/

Tourism Accommodation Australia –  http://aha.org.au/taa/

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