DUBBO Regional Council mayor Mathew Dickerson has his view on the staffing recruitment issues at Council, stating that former leadership had sapped staff morale and lost many “talented and dedicated employees” from the team.

“It can take up to three years to significantly improve the workplace environment but already we are seeing improvements in the morale across the entire workforce with a new CEO and a new group of councillors,” Mr Dickerson said.

“There are currently 21 vacancies that are actively being recruited and council has 523 full-time employees.”

As well as dwindling staff numbers, council has also found itself in the grip of a significant skills shortage across various sectors within its cohort.

“This is not limited to just one sector. The current rates of Seek.com.au job adverts is up 45.8 per cent on the same period pre-pandemic, and March 2022 saw the highest number of Seek ads for our region since staff began recording the numbers in 2018,” Mr Dickerson said.

“There were 690 vacancies advertised.

“The unemployment rate across Dubbo city is 2.5 per cent and across the Dubbo LGA is 2.9 per cent.”

Despite the increase in the unemployment rate for the city, the local numbers still average less than the state rate, which currently sits are 4.2 per cent.

“This demonstrates the huge potential Dubbo has to attract more residents and the strength of the economy in Dubbo with low unemployment,” Cr Dickerson said.