Riverina regains 4500 jobs in July, data shows

Around 4500 Riverina workers were back in the payroll in July, pushing the population-to-employment ratio to a nine-month high of 65.2 per cent.

Byrne Trailers' Vicki Lynch said the business was "absolutely flat out", and that they would be hiring more steel workers, HR staff, and apprentices to keep up with demand.

"We have not batted an eyelid - if anything we're far busier than we were last year," Ms Lynch said.

"We have quite a bit going on, and we have several apprentice programs at the moment to try and keep the labour base up to scratch because we're going absolutely great guns."

The same was true for Grill'd owner Brad Carroll, who said his restaurant was even busier than normal and was looking to hire a few more workers to keep up with the pace.

"We were pretty heavily affected in April, like everyone was. Since May we were pretty on par with last year, and from June, July we were actually growing on last year," Mr Carroll said.

"We're doing about 10 per cent better with about a third of the seats. I have no idea how."

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Jaycar owner Andy Blanchard said he was struggling to find workers to fill in all the vacancies, saying it was a challenge to find motivated young people in Wagga.

"I feel like sometimes they're just filling in the requirements to get the dole, and it wastes a lot of my time when I need someone quickly," Mr Blanchard said.

"I think the problem is - and we all know the problem is - when they get paid $750 to sit around and do nothing, why would they want to go to work?"

NSW Business Chamber's Andrew Cottrill said the latest jobs figures were proof of just how resilient the Riverina's business community was in times of crisis.

"It really is a testament to the strength of this regional economy having bounced out of COVID lockdown restrictions, and the confidence that business owners have to start re-employing again," Mr Cottrill said.

"This gives me a lot of confidence that we'll see a strong recovery in the Riverina region as restrictions continue to ease."

However Mr Cottrill said he remained deeply worried about the situation unfolding at the NSW-Victorian border, and was anxiously waiting to see how the business community would fare.