As hospitality and retail businesses struggle to open during what should be the biggest month of their year, Southern Highlands Chamber of Commerce president Steve Horton believes the situation has been brewing for months, if not years.
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He has pointed to a range of reasons - including the dearth of overseas workers due to ongoing restrictions regarding travel, as well as a long-term lack of affordable accommodation in the region - that have combined with the present Omicron wave to knock workers out.
"I know of one cafe that simply could not open at the start of a shift due to lack of staff," Mr Horton said.
"There are a number of factors that are leading to the shortfall in staff availability, which is being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are not seeing the number of students traveling from overseas, we don't have as many people travelling to Australia on working holidays, and there is not as many local students making themselves available to work in hospitality, and all these groups boosts up the employment pool in hospitality.
"We also have issues associated with affordable accommodation in the region so people that would come and work in hospitality, retail and aged care simply can't afford to pay for accommodation in this area even if it was available."
Sally Pittolo, who is about to take over as owner at popular Moss Vale cafe Il Pranzo, said they have been looking for staff for months.
"Our cooks are doing six days a week because there just isn't anyone to share the load," said Ms Pittolo, who has been advertising for kitchen staff since at least early November.
"We're struggling a bit - we've put out ads and no one has responded.
"I've talked with other business owners locally and they all say the same."
She said she can't account for the widespread issue, especially since JobKeeper is no longer providing support for those not working.
"I don't really know what it is, but it's affecting a lot of local places," she said.
While Il Pranzo hasn't had staff catch COVID-19 themselves, or have to isolate as household contacts, Ms Pittolo said they have noticed a continuing decrease in the number of customers over the last few weeks.
"Staff have been vigilant and keeping safe, but it's affected our customer base," she said.
"A lot of them are older, and are scared and worried and staying home - and fair enough.
"But it's hard for us - there are just less people throught the door."
Mr Horton said that, for those businesses affected by staff forced to isolate, greater availability of rapid antigen testing (RAT) kits would be a game-changer.
The federal government needs to be making these kits available to the public so we can get people tested quickly and back to work.
- Steve Horton, Southern Highlands Camber of Commerce president
"The federal government needs to be making these kits available to the public so we can get people tested quickly and back to work," he said.
"This needs to happen rather than waiting days for full test results."
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