Skills shortage in WA never worse, says ABS

Skilled employment vacancies hit an all-time high in Western Australia in June last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which says demand for skilled labour shows no sign of flattening.

The skilled vacancy index for WA rose by 88 per cent over the last three years, compared with a fall of 3.5 per cent in the Australian index.

As a result, the local barometer reached a record high of 218.4 in June last year, the ABS said.

There was recently a lag of seven quarters between peaks in economic growth and employment growth between the June quarter in 2003 and the March quarter 2005, the bureau said.

But "the apparent inability of employment to respond to strong labour demand suggests that the supply of labour, including skilled labour, may have constrained employment growth."

At 3.9 per cent, WA's unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level on record in November 2005.