The root cause of the talent crunch is not a shortage of job seekers, but a shortage of qualified candidates to fill needed positions. However, compared to 2022, the situation appears to be easing slightly, creating an opportunity for progress.
Competition is expected to continue but moderate due to factors such as inflation, a slowing economy and fewer job openings due to increased visa approvals.
Resolving the skills shortage remains a distant possibility due to persistent systemic obstacles caused by skills shortages, due in part to an ageing population and below-replacement birth rates.
Going forward, we expect the talent market to remain short of skilled talent, and employers will continue to face challenges in finding and retaining top talent. This is especially true for demanding technical roles such as senior developers and infrastructure-related jobs, and we don’t expect this to change significantly over the next few years.
Wages have increased significantly in certain industries over the past few years. That said, with inflation rising and job availability limited, I expect job seekers will need to lower their salary expectations.
In summary, reduced competition for jobs will expand the candidate pool and, as we will see in 2021/2022, we expect to see a change in job seeker behavior towards embracing truly motivated candidates rather than merely opportunistic ones.
