Residents of the Riverina considering a career as a nurse or midwife are being encouraged to choose a rewarding career with NSW Health, with support available through cadetship and scholarship programs throughout 2023.

Like much of the world, Australia is grappling with labor shortages after it reopened its borders to the outside world in 2022.

Unemployment is steady at 3.5 per cent, after November's jobless rate was revised higher and on the back of an estimated 14,600 jobs being lost last month.

As COVID-19 restrictions around the country were scrapped this year, many Australian employers told staff it was time to return to the office.

By Rachel Clun, an economics correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Parliament House in Canberra

Increasing numbers of employers are allowing their staff to work on the Australia Day public holiday in exchange for another day of leave.

The AMA has written to a parliamentary committee warning there are at least 106 unfilled junior medical officer roles across South Australia for 2023.

On January 1, 2023, around 1 million Aussies on Centrelink saw their payments rise by roughly $20 a week.Young people, carers and students received a 6 per cent increase on the first day of the year when the most recent indexation kicked in.

The country closed its borders during COVID and told foreign students and backpackers to go home. It is now facing the West's second-worst employee shortage after Canada, with some companies offering signing bonuses and flying them in from overseas.

Mental health organisations share concerns about how students are coping after pandemic closures