Long COVID is set to be a key topic of discussion at the upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit to address labour shortages after a concerning government report showed the pandemic continued to silently 'smash' the economy in the first six months 0f 2022.
A Department of Treasury analysis has revealed the silent impact of the ongoing pandemic on the Australian economy and workforce with three million working days lost in the first six months of this year due to illness.The report flagged 12 per cent of COVID absenteeism was due to the long-term effects of the virus that can return or last weeks, months or years after first infection.
Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers described long COVID as one of the"bigger challenges" that the government has while trying to continue managing the virus. He was posed by a reporter whether he found the analysis"concerning" before he stressed the skills and labour shortages - that were already existing in certain communities - were"turbo-charged" by the pandemic.
There have been calls from state governments to speed up visa processing times to help alleviate the shortages being felt across several industries."start stamping passports today" because"we need to immediately get workers into the country""The current Labor government, they don't need a skills summit, they don't need to wait for permission from their union mates," he told Laura Jayes on Tuesday.
He conceded there will not be a unanimous agreement on every aspect of the summit but hopes those who have been invited to attend can find some common ground.
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