Desperate Queensland business owners want grey nomads and retirees back on the job and new incentives to lure young workers into trades.
Many small businesses in regional areas are now paying above the minimum wage and even offering financial sweeteners to get people into good jobs outside the city.
Despite this, vacancies cannot be filled and peak regional development bodies say employers are turning to TikTok and Instagram for recruitment or hiring staff without qualifications and training them on site.
Regional owners are calling for their voices to be heard as industry leaders prepare to meet for a national jobs and skills summit.
They say immediate tax changes are needed for employees with a second job and apprentices won't finish training unless employers have support to "pay the kids more".
Wage support needed
Daniel Ridgeway owns three restaurants on the Gold Coast and has been in the hospitality industry his whole career.
He said he hadn't been able to open his newest venue five days a week because of staffing issues.
"The pool of experienced staff is very, very low," he said.
"And now it's hard to get even inexperienced staff."
The hospitality veteran said becoming an apprentice chef wasn't considered a career pathway for many young people because the pay was so low.
"You need to pay the kids more," Mr Ridgeway said.
"They're next to a dishwasher who's getting paid $28-30 an hour just to wash dishes but this person has to go to school, train, they're on half that amount of money ... so the thought process might be, 'Well why would I do that?'"
Mr Ridgeway, who pays above award wage, said tax changes that would stop small businesses having to pay penalties for staff who worked more than 38 hours in a week would go some way towards easing the crisis.
"I do agree that needs to be a penalty in place ... but not on 38 hours a week," he said.
"For the staff, they're forced to only do an average of 38 hours and they want to work more or get a second job, but they just can't because no-one wants to pay the money.
"We're losing staff to people who pay cash because that's what the staff have to do to survive.
"Our staff [will] work 50 hours a week because these young kids want to work save up for a car or a house, but it might be in their bosses restricting them to 38 hours per week."
Lower tax for second jobs
Regional Development Australia Gold Coast director Estella Rodighiero said there should be tax breaks for those with a second job within the tourism and hospitality industry.
"If you're working in one job and you get 20 hours but then you need to go and work as a barista in another place, then the tax implication for that just doesn't make it worth it," she said.
Ms Rodighiero said many businesses were now posting job ads on social media.
"I think employers are finding different ways of trying to engage staff through TikTok, Instagram and Facebook," she said.
"Those job network sites aren't really grabbing attention and when they're putting up the Facebook ad, what they found was they engaged the parents as well [of school students]."
Backpackers need places to live
Further west, River Sands Wines owner David Blackett said it had been several years since he had full staff at his St George winery, with many backpackers still out of the country.
The Department of Home Affairs earlier this week told the ABC that 13,700 backpacker visas were currently pending.
Another 70,060 backpackers with valid visas currently outside of Australia have not returned to work, according to the figures.
"We've had to really show a lot of initiative in getting our new workers to the area, particularly backpackers, they're pretty scarce still," Mr Blackett said.
"Once we get them here, they usually have a great time, find they save a lot of money, and make a lot of great friends before they head off."
Mr Blackett said he had started arranging accommodation, offering free pick-ups from Brisbane and a $1,000 bonus if they stayed for three months.
He said staff finding a place to live was one of the biggest barriers to getting them to the bush.
Tourism jobs get a bad rap
Tourist regions such as the Gold and Sunshine coasts are also finding it hard to get workers to relocate to their areas.
Destination Gold Coast's Rachel Hancock said the perception that the tourism sector was low paying and had no career progression was part of the problem.
She said some shortages could be eased if veterans or retirees did not lose their pension benefits when they took up a job.
"It would be great to see that cap lifted … they have such experience, they have knowledge, they're willing to work and obviously, on a Gold Coast, it's an ageing population," Ms Hancock said.
Grey nomads want the work
Bowen Gumlu Growers president Carl Walker has also been pushing to get willing grey nomads into work.
"It's a big thing, some would be quite happy to work full-time for two or three weeks to generate some more money so they can travel to the next town," he said.
"Those pensioners who have worked all their lives, who cares if they get the pension and they earn money because they still pay tax on that money.
"I hope the government does see common sense and allow these grey nomads to actually get out there and actually help lots of regions that really, really need their help."
