Australia is facing a critical labour and skills shortage which is adding to inflationary pressures in our economy and undermining economic growth. Job vacancies hit a record 423,500 in February 2022 and the National Skills Commission has forecast an additional 1.2 million workers will be needed to fill skill gaps across the economy by 2026.

While migration has been flagged as one way to meet the current and future skill needs, the nation already has a skilled workforce in Australia that is chronically under-utilised - our women.

The analysis undertaken for this report suggests that Australia can address our economy's current and future skill needs by closing the gap between the number employed and hours worked of men and women across our economy.