Bundaberg and Wide Bay recruitment: professional, technical and trade staff

About as hard as the rest of regional Queensland. The national employer survey reports Wide Bay together with the Sunshine Coast: of 260 employers who answered in the year to August 2026, 55% were recruiting or had recruited in the past month, and 48% of those had difficulty filling a role, against 47% across regional Queensland.¹

Unemployment is higher here than across the state,³ but that does not mean a deep pool of skilled applicants. The most common reasons for difficulty were a lack of suitable applicants, applicants without the technical skills, the working conditions or hours, and too few applicants.¹ Rentals are tight as well: Hervey Bay's vacancy rate was 2.2% in the September quarter 2026, and 48 of the 50 Queensland regions tracked had rental vacancy rates of 2.5% or less in the September quarter 2026.⁸

We look for people with the skills the role needs, in the region and among people with a reason to move here, and talk with them about the work, the hours and housing from the first call.

The region trains its own. CQUniversity teaches in Bundaberg,¹¹ UniSC at Hervey Bay and Gympie,¹² and TAFE Queensland at Bundaberg, Gympie, Hervey Bay, Kingaroy and Maryborough.¹⁶ Tell us who will review their work in the first year, and we talk with graduates about that support and their plans in the region.

Wide Bay is several labour markets. The Fraser Coast council area has 122,924 people, including 63,312 in the Hervey Bay urban area and 28,658 in Maryborough. Bundaberg council has 107,297 and Gympie council 58,487.²⁰ The Bundaberg urban area has 79,283, and the urban figures for Hervey Bay and Maryborough come from the same urban-area table.²¹ Inland, South Burnett has 35,111 people and North Burnett 10,562.²⁰

Unemployment varies by council: 3.6% in North Burnett, 3.8% in Bundaberg, 4.0% in Gympie, 4.5% on the Fraser Coast and 5.1% in South Burnett, June quarter 2026 (modelled estimates).²²

Tell us where the role is based and whether you would consider someone commuting from a neighbouring town, and we build that into the search. If your preferred candidate is moving to the region, we raise housing and the practical side of the move early, including any relocation support you offer.

If the right person needs a visa or sponsorship, our sister business Australian Immigration Agency can advise.

Experienced health professionals, tradespeople, engineers, farm and production staff and office staff, recent CQUniversity, UniSC and TAFE graduates, and people planning a move to the region can all register with Hire Australia. Tell us the work you want and the towns that suit you, and we'll talk with you about roles that fit.