Workers, cost of living and tax reform were the major pain points Canberra's small and medium businesses hoped would be alleviated in Tuesday's federal budget.
"They'll be looking at this budget, not just for good economic management, but also for initiatives that actually help them with the issues that they're wrestling with at the moment," chief executive Graham Catt said.
James Souter has found himself advertising for positions for up to six months in some cases as he struggles through the shortages.
"We're just seeing a lack of applicants come through and those applicants that do come through realistically just don't have the experience that a restaurant like ours is normally used to placing in those positions," the Boat House owner said.
"In terms of front of house staff, it's incredibly slim pickings - that's from very entry-level jobs, all the way up to management jobs. It's very, very difficult to find good front of house staff at the moment."
A national skills summit held in Canberra in September was intended to do the heavy-lifting on skills shortages, which have swept through industries nationwide.
"In terms of front of house staff, it's incredibly slim pickings - that's from very entry-level jobs, all the way up to management jobs. It's very, very difficult to find good front of house staff at the moment."
A national skills summit held in Canberra in September was intended to do the heavy-lifting on skills shortages, which have swept through industries nationwide.
The summit saw the national migration cap increased by 35,000, including measures to increase workforce participation, such as the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce.
With more work to be done on the issue, businesses are hopeful commitments to reduce childcare costs will encourage more women to return to the workforce.
Labor will lift the maximum subsidy to 90 per cent for the first child in care, while parents with one child in care, who are earning less than $53,000, will see their subsidy increased.
"I've found quite a lot of new mums coming back into the workforce," Mr Souter said. "We've tried to work around that for them, but I know that they face significant challenges when it comes to daycare and childcare costs."
Measures that ease soaring costs and supply chain delays and constraints will also be welcomed, Mr Catt said.
"We've certainly noticed an increase in our costs of goods, there's huge increases in certain items in terms of costs," Mr Souter said.
"Some of those shock items that we saw, they've leveled back out, things like iceberg lettuce.
"But overall we're seeing fuel levies and increases in prices just for the delivery and transport alone is adding quite a few per cent to our costs, and therefore either we need to absorb that or pass it on."
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