Leading Australian demographer and social commentator Bernard Salt will be the keynote speaker at a summit in Dubbo this month. Recruitment guru Greg Savage will work with summit participants to define “what successful recruitment and retention strategies could look like for the Orana region”.

RDA Orana research into skills and labour found Dubbo’s unemployment rate was 2.2 per cent and “jobs are outpacing labour supply” in Dubbo, Cobar and Bourke local government areas.

RDA Orana executive officer Megan Dixon reports that the Orana @ Work Employer Summit is set down for Dubbo RSL Memorial Club on May 22. “With more than $6 billion of exciting development projects announced or under way across the region, the demand for skills and labour is very high right now and employers are under a lot of pressure,” she said.

“Our aim in developing this forum is to support employers in minimising and avoiding risk and teaching them how to implement strategic, practical solutions that will enhance the workplace and strengthen their workforce.”

RDA Orana surveyed 190 businesses and organisations, many of them “reverting to word-of-mouth recruitment strategies to save time and avoid the disappointment of unsuccessful advertising”. “..it is clear that we need to do more to support the needs of employers and to help them attract apprentices and trainees to fill some of the gaps across the region,” Mrs Dixon said.

Tickets to the forum can be booked at https://rdaorana.worldsecuresystems.com/orana-work-employer-summit/