Small and medium businesses are reputed to be the main generators of employment in developed economies. However discussion of work conditions in SMEs tends to the polarised as either providing opportunities to develop through the flexibility of the job, or providing inferior working conditions. For graduates, the evidence favours the latter view, with working conditions of lower quality in SMEs and graduates preferring to work for larger businesses. Hence it is expected that smaller businesses will be generating more employment that larger businesses but that they may have more difficulty in recruiting appropriate staff. Such problems are likely to be compounded in more isolated areas where there may be a lack of local training for some trades and lack of professional development opportunities for graduates. Moreover, training may not be supported to the same degree in smaller businesses as in those that are larger. In this survey of over 600 businesses in central Queensland, changes in the numbers of people employed in small, medium and large businesses are examined. The study also examines whether the changes occurring are in full-time, part-time or causal positions, whether it is difficult to obtain qualified staff for particular occupations, and the efforts made by businesses of all sizes to train their own staff.