The newly minted boss of National Australia Bank’s flagship business bank says local firms are still having trouble finding staff as they work their way out of softer economic conditions.

Rachel Slade, who was appointed to NAB’s biggest lending arm in April, said on Thursday that businesses in some sectors of the economy were coming up against challenges in the labour market.

“Getting labour is still the number-one challenge for businesses,” she said in an interview with this masthead. “It has settled down in some sectors, but we’re still seeing it [play out] in others such as civil services, construction and some specialised businesses.”

Labour shortages have been a persistent problem for businesses over the past few years, with 36 per cent of occupations assessed by Jobs and Skills Australia last year in national shortage – 5 percentage points higher than in 2022.

“The big thing to watch for in the economy [over the next six to 12 months] is unemployment,” Slade said.

The Reserve Bank said in its most recent statement on monetary policy in May that the labour market remained tight with a more gradual easing than had been expected at its previous meeting in February. The unemployment rate was 4 per cent in March, above its 50-year low of 3.5 per cent in late 2022, but below the bank’s target.

NAB’s latest results showed that financial stress level among businesses was increasing, and Slade said while most businesses were in relatively good shape some were “doing it tough”.

“It [stress] has been ticking up, back towards the long-run average,” she said.

Slade, who served as the boss of NAB’s personal banking business for nearly four years before being appointed to the helm of its business bank, was widely considered a strong candidate to succeed former chief executive Ross McEwan. That role was subsequently handed to Andrew Irvine, who was previously head of NAB’s business bank in April.