But apply a regional lens to this data, and a very different story emerges for our towns and cities.

While the number of roles advertised each month have fallen over the last two quarters, regional Australia vacancies are nearly 100 per cent higher than they were pre-pandemic. In metro areas they're only 36 per cent higher.

Unemployment in regional Australia is below the national average at 3 per cent, but this isn't new as it has been tracking under metropolitan rates for the last two years.

Regional Australia's workplace participation rate is currently 71.4 per cent, not only the highest rate in 30 years, but again ahead of the national average of 66.6 per cent

While the pandemic closed borders and abruptly slowed population growth in our capital cities (Sydney and Melbourne in particular), the regions saw record numbers of people migrate. Again, not necessarily a new trend as there has been net migration to the regions from the cities for the last two census periods.

Dig into the national figures, and it's clear the regional jobs story is vastly different to the metro one.

There are unique factors driving not only the record growth but also unique factors impacting future labour supply.

Our regional labour pool has all but dried up.

For example, in the Blue Mountains, Bathurst and the Central West region, the number of jobs advertised in December 2022 jumped 20 per cent from December 2021. However, the unemployment rate is at 1.2 per cent.

To get more people to fill the jobs in the regions, we need to address chronic housing and childcare shortages in some regions. To build the local workforce, we need to address education, training pipelines and the local skills mismatch.

To have an idea of how great this mismatch can be, consider that right now, central Queensland has the highest annual job growth rate of 25.4 per cent yet also one of the highest unemployment rates of 10.8 per cent. Some regions have not been able to keep up with shifts in skill demands.

Regional Australia's challenges with jobs and skills is linked with issues in education, housing, and liveability.

And today's record shortages have been years in the making. Compounded by the fact that many of these years have been spent looking at these issues in silos.

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To address the chronic labour shortages in the regions and to allow regions who want to grow, we need a holistic and long-term approach that acknowledges that jobs, education, housing, and liveability are interlinked.

The Regional Australia Institute used 10 years of regionally focused research to develop a 10-year framework and set of 20 targets designed to drive better outcomes in our regions.

Critical to this framework are targets and strategies to address recruitment difficulty, increase the share of skilled workers, increasing Year 12 school attainment and boost post school qualifications.

We also recommend striving for targets to increase the percentage of migrants settling in the regions. Migrants to Australia are the most educated and skilled in the OECD, ideal for regions crying out for skilled labour, yet less than 20 per cent settle outside a major capital city. Regional Australia needs programs and systems to attract and nurture more skilled migrants.

National data figures do not adequately tell the story of regional Australia which is why we need an informed regional lens over Australia's different economic and social challenges if we hope to not only solve the issues but to take advantage of the enormous opportunity being driven by demand in our regions.

Information about the Regionalisation Ambition 2032 and specific Jobs & Skills targets and possible ways to address challenges can be accessed here.