LOW unemployment and skill shortages have created a raft of employment opportunities in the Wimmera.
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Wimmera Development Association executive director Jo Bourke said the association had used the Regional Victoria Living Expo to sell 20 businesses and fill 48 vacant jobs in the Wimmera.
"They are similar numbers to last year," Mrs Bourke said.
She said skill shortages in the Wimmera were partly to blame for the vacancies.
"There is quite low unemployment in the region; there are always a number of jobs at entry level, skilled and unskilled and professional level employment, so there's always a number of jobs available," she said.
People attending the expo often were unaware of the diversity of the Wimmera's job market.
"It just demonstrates the range of jobs that are available," Mrs Bourke said.
"Often people from metropolitan areas think that there are farm jobs and they don't actually understand some of the opportunities that are in the Wimmera."
Vacancies were across a range of sectors.
"There is a whole range of health sector jobs, nurses and allied health, a number of community service jobs working in the welfare sector, sales jobs in retail, the agriculture sector and a list of what we've termed technical jobs mechanics and trade apprenticeships," Mrs Bourke said.
She said the experience of previous years showed the vacancies would not be filled immediately, with people preferring to look at the opportunities over the long-term.
Employment and training provider WorkCo general manager Dean Luciani said job markets had been solid.
"We're finding that that's been a pretty consistent market and often issues of filling positions are around distance," he said.
He said remote areas often posed challenges when trying to fill vacancies.
"We might have farmhand roles for example or apprenticeships in outlying areas and the available labour pool in outlying areas can be limited," he said.