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Scarcity of international students is bad news for Australian businesses
With the border closed between Indonesia and Australia, Indonesian businesses in Australia that used to hire international students struggle to secure employees.
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'Ayam Penyet Ria' is just one of the many Australian businesses that suffered from employee shortage due to the pandemic. (Courtesy of Ayam Penyet Ria) (Personal collection/Courtesy of Ayam Penyet Ria)
W
ith the border closed between Indonesia and Australia, Indonesian businesses in Australia that used to hire international students struggle to secure employees.
It has been more than a year that international students have not been able to enter Australia because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian Government website puts the drop of international students from 756,656 in 2019 to 557,836 in September 2021. The subsequent workforce crisis has pushed some business owners to simultaneously take on the role of both employee and employer.
Food businesses on the brink
Indonesian businesses operating in the food and beverages industry are most affected by the issue. Indonesian restaurant chain, Ayam Penyet Ria (Ria’s smashed fried chicken) lost a significant amount of staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Some of our staff decided to go back to Indonesia and could not return [to Australia] due to the border restriction. Not only that - before the pandemic, we had about 15 Indonesian students for each store who were working for us and now there are only eight,” said Jeremy Jordan, the restaurant’s chief operating officer. Jeremy is in charge of six Ayam Penyet Ria branches between Melbourne and Sydney.
The situation is not easy for Jeremy and his coworkers. He explained that they had to complete kitchen duties while also managing the restaurant. According to Jeremy, the labor shortage in Australia was also causing an increase in the price of ingredients and an increase in wages in the hospitality sector, severely impacting small businesses like Ayam Penyet Ria. The COO said this could impede the restaurant's ability to employ workers under the current rates.
The labor scarcity means that possible employees are fought over by businesses big and small. Unsurprisingly, the small ones are losing.
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