Tasmania faces a skilled labour crisis as baby boomers leave the workforce, says demographer Natalie Jackson.

Employers should implement workplace reforms to tackle declining employee numbers or risk losing their businesses, Dr Jackson told a conference in Launceston yesterday.

The University of Tasmania associate professor said immigration was a short-term answer.

"Tasmanian employers could be using the 457 immigration visa more efficiently -- South Australia is doing wonderfully with it," she said.

"They have quadrupled international migration while Tasmania's has doubled."

http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24141279-3462,00.html