Sydney, July 21 (TIWN) Almost 40 per cent of Australian small and medium business owners are facing labour shortages, according to one of the nation's largest banks.

New research by the National Australia Bank (NAB) revealed on Wednesday that hundreds of small and medium enterprises say their staffing shortfalls were having a "very significant" impact on their ability to operate.  The survey, based on the responses of about 800 small and medium enterprises, which are businesses with less than 200 employees, showed that about one in three bosses expected the impact to continue over the next 12 months.