Australia facing sharp digital skills shortfall

Australia is facing a shortfall of 370,000 digital workers by 2026, according to the Future Skills Organisation.

The final report of the Digital Skills Organisation, which is being transitioned into the Future Skills Organisation under the new Jobs and Skills Council, found that every person in the workforce now needs to have digital skills.

According to the report, future demand for digital skills will be divided into digital expert workers, representing the approximately 7% of the workforce that will require specific digital skills as central functional skills, as well as the 43% of the workforce of digitally enabled workers that will rely on digital skills to augment their functional skills, and the remainder of the workforce that will require digital literacy but not specific digital skills.

But the report found that Australia’s training system must be revamped to be able to cope with the rapid pace of change in the digital skills needed by job roles. Currently one in two VET graduates report that the skills they learned during their training are not relevant to their current job.

If these trends persist, Australia will have a shortage of nearly 370,000 digital workers in the next three years. The report argues that more teachers and trainers are needed who are capable of delivering digital training across various qualifications.

Future Skills Organisation CEO Patrick Kidd said the findings will inform the revamped organisation’s work across the finance, technology and business sectors across Australia.

“The future Australian workforce will require digital skills across every industry, and every job,” he said.

“The report provides us with the empirical evidence we need to champion digital skilling and reskilling across Australia. I believe that we can create a flexible, robust and innovative VET system that provides opportunities for all Australians to acquire the in-demand skills of tomorrow and to meet industry needs.”

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