This is despite the Riverina electorate remaining at almost three per cent higher than the state's youth unemployment rate.

The 2019 Workforce Skills Survey found the Riverina ranked four in NSW for experiencing the most significant shortages that are impacting more than half of businesses, at 61.9 per cent.

Trade skill shortages in construction, manufacturing and engineering are the most prominent.

Engineering skilled technician Tom Grigg, from Wagga's Countrywise Engineering, said the business has struggled at times to employ people with the right skills.

"I think it's just that people don't seem to want to do manual work anymore because there are so many other jobs where you don't need skills," Mr Grigg said.

"I suppose people aren't interested in getting these skills to do this physical work."

Mr Grigg said the skills needed for his profession can be applied to other areas in life.

"The career is useful for creating things, problem solving and it's more dynamic than a lot of other jobs," he said.

Job search site SEEK showed 90 job listings in the manufacturing and engineering industries, followed by 63 vacancies open in construction.

The survey listed other notable industries facing shortages in the Riverina, which included health, hospitality and early childhood education.

A report by TAFE NSW, looking into future jobs, found early childhood educators would be one of the fastest growing professions in the region between 2018 and 2021, with a 15.6 per cent increase in employment opportunities.

Early childhood assistant at Gowrie Early Learning Centre Meike McDermott cares for children whose parents are enrolled in the Adult Migrant English Program.

"Some parents probably see [my job] as a glorified babysitter but it's more than just having fun, blowing bubbles and colouring," she said.

"It's important for the parents to learn English to integrate with the community, to get a job and for the children to integrate into kindergarten.

"It's such an important role that we are doing to help the children assimilate in the new country from where they came from ... as an educator, we are modelling how we live through language, social skills and trust."

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NSW Business Chamber CEO Stephen Cartwright argued that more needed to be done in the education system to train the next generation for jobs of the future.

"We must address the mismatch between the skills young people are obtaining and the skills businesses require," he said.

"...ensuring that schools are making students aware of, and promoting, the breadth of options available during and after schooling, and providing more exposure to meaningful work experience.

"Doing what we've always done isn't working - we have a 'perfect storm' of stubbornly high levels of youth unemployment but businesses are crying out for staff."