Government Regulation Hindering Employment

Government red tape is deterring companies from recruiting new staff, according to the latest data from the Australian Industry Group and Deloitte.

The National CEO Survey: Business Regulation questioned 322 CEOs, who employ around 28,000 workers, on their experience with business regulation, and found that a perceived higher compliance burden was discouraging companies from adding headcount..

One-third of respondents said that regulations were a "substantial barrier" to making new hires, while employee-related regulations (like OHS and workers compensation) were seen by CEOs to be the most time-consuming areas of regulation.

The report recommended that the government instituted "more efficient and less onerous regulations which enable businesses to flexibly employ labour to meet changing economic circumstances".

Source: ShortList .net.au 28/09/2011