JSA adds financial investment adviser to job shortages list

In its latest Skills Priority List, JSA classified financial investment advisers among 66 occupations assessed as being in shortage in 2023 that were not in shortage in 2022.

JSA said the Skills Priority List (SPL) provides a detailed view of occupations in shortage and the anticipated future demand for occupations in Australia.

“The SPL is released annually as a point-in-time assessment of the labour market and serves as valuable tool that can inform policymakers towards aligning policies and strategies with the current demands of the labour market,” the report said.

The addition to the occupations in shortage list is the latest hit to the profession, which has seen a precipitous decline in adviser numbers following the Hayne royal commission and the ensuing legislative changes.

Prior to the royal commission, there were as many as 26,500 advisers in Australia, however, according to the latest numbers from Wealth Data, that number now sits at just 15,692.

On top of this, job vacancies in the financial and insurance services sector have also seen a considerable decline, with the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealing that job vacancies contracted by 15 per cent during the three-month period ending in August.

The financial and insurance services sector is also the only industry to now have vacancies lower than they were in February 2020, the ABS said.

According to the ABS methodology, financial and insurance services encompass financial investment advisers and managers, financial brokers, bank workers, accountants, and, as of recently, financial advisers.

JSA said that the overall employment is strong and that the unemployment rate has remained historically low at 3.5 per cent, suggesting that employers are having to compete more intensely for available talent.

“The tight labour market conditions and trends are manifesting as skills shortages as employers contend with constrained levels of candidates that are suitable to fill job openings. This has materialised as occupation shortages across the labour market,” it said.

The report also found that despite skill shortages, employers have been broadly reticent to increase pay to combat the issue.

“Over the three years from 2021 to 2023, few employers changed remuneration in response to skill shortages. In the 2023 SPL period, around 1 per cent of employers adjusted renumeration to attract suitably skilled workers to fill vacancies,” JSA said.

“This was slightly more compared to 2022 (0.4 per cent). The results are consistent with research undertaken by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which show limited evidence that firms raised wages in response to firm-wide or job-level skill shortages, at least in the short-term.”

The report did not make any conclusions around the impact of regulatory changes on financial advisers, however, JSA did note that there are distinct reasons for different sectors.

“While underlying drivers of shortages can vary across occupations, it is anticipated that these shortages reflect either a lack of people who have the essential technical skills or other (non-technical) qualities that employers consider are important; or those with the right technical skills and other qualities who aren’t willing to apply for the vacancies under current pay and working conditions,” it said.