Jobs and Skills Australia released the most recent Skills Priority List in late 2023. It showed occupations for technicians, trade workers, health, engineering, ICT and science are experiencing the most significant skills shortages across the nation, particularly in regional and remote areas.
With the employment-to-population ratio high at 64.5% and the unemployment rate historically low at 3.5%, employers across both public and private sectors are having to compete more intensely for strong talent.
So why does talent retention remain such a challenge? The answer, it appears, might be that organisations struggle to match employee expectations with economic realities.
An uncompetitive salary has become the top reason for employees to switch jobs, which may not be surprising given the volatile economic climate, interest rate increases, and high inflation that has seen the cost of living soar.
On the employer side, new workplace relation reforms have spiked demand in specific jobs, and increased investment by government in cyber security and artificial intelligence has had a big impact on the technology industry especially, while other industries have felt the impact to varying degrees.
The increase in skill shortages reflects the impact of recruitment challenges driven by a persistently tight labour market that began in late 2021.
While the underlying drivers of shortages vary across occupations, we can anticipate that these shortages reflect a lack of people with the essential technical skills or non-technical qualities employers consider important for their future workforce.
Robert Walters has examined the job market trends in Australia that relate to the areas that we recruit within government. Our analysis has enabled us to determine the strong in-demand skills nationally based on job titles and technical skills, along with national priorities.
1. Technology and data
According to the Future Skills Organisation, the surging demand for digital skills is pushing Australia towards a critical shortage of more than 370,000 digital experts and digitally enabled workers by 2026.
Over the past five years, the workforce has transformed with corresponding growth in demand for digital skills across all roles, and this trend shows no signs of slowing. There is a projected 47% growth in the digital workforce, while there has also been increased use of digital tools in jobs across the economy as more workers need to become digitally enabled.
The APS employs approximately 150,000 people working in more than 100 agencies across a variety of locations. As a large employer in Australia, the Australian Public Service is facing many of the same issues as industry.
2. Cybersecurity
Privacy and data protection are set to be continued growth areas. Major legislative reforms mean there will be significant changes to the Privacy Act as well as a greater range of enforcement powers given to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Government must keep pace with key initiatives such as the Australian Cyber Security Strategy and Digital ID framework given the continued increase in the use of high-impact technologies.
Workers who have privacy and compliance knowledge, the ability to interpret regulatory change, and can advise business and manage the assessment of privacy risk will continue to be in high demand.
3. Accounting, audit and finance
According to an Australian Bureau of Statistics forecast, Australia will require 338,362 accountants by 2026 – almost 10,000 extra per year.
Accounting, audit and finance professionals are still highly sought after, particularly in the intermediate range of five to 10 years’ experience. Talent can be difficult to source in this bracket as there has been a steady decline in people undertaking degrees in accounting, with experienced technical financial accountants and management accountants in high demand.
The key skill needed in the government sector is strong corporate reporting skills.
4. Procurement and contract management
The demand for highly experienced procurement and contract managers continues to grow as government retains a heightened focus on external suppliers. Procurement and contract management is an essential core skill required by many APS employees as it often forms part of their job at some stage during their government career.
Government contracts are frequently up for renewal and employees with experience setting up panels, leading tender requests, and drafting contracts continue to be in high demand. Procurement professionals need to possess skills in assessing supplier performance, negotiations and managing established contracts. Managing existing contracts is an extremely rare skill in the current market.
5. Project management
As the government and defence industry continues to grow in Australia, large projects will continue to require highly experienced project managers to lead complex projects. The shortage of experienced project managers is a direct reflection of the volume and complexity of projects being undertaken by government.
As organisations continue to capitalise on economic opportunities, adapt to changes and adopt new technology into projects, project managers will continue to be in high demand. Key areas where we see heightened demand is in defence, health, taxation and defence industry projects.
READ MORE:
The 66 new occupations facing shortages on the Skills Priority List
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