Australia's tech workforce on track to 1.2m target

Australia’s tech workforce is nearing the 1 million mark, and is on track to meet the government’s goal of having 1.2 million technology jobs by 2030, according to the Tech Council of Australia.

A new report from the industry group found that the number of tech jobs increased by 8% last year to 935,000 as of February. Meanwhile 10,500 new jobs were added in the first three months of the year.

The greatest growth is being seen in technology-related jobs in non-technology sectors, such as retail, banking, professional services, government and mining, the report found.

TCA CEO Kate Pounder said this demonstrates that technology jobs are integral to all areas of the Australian economy.

“The world’s leading economies are focused on digitally upskilling their workforce, and the TCA wants to ensure that Australia is at the forefront of this transition,” she said.

“The growth of tech jobs in non-traditional tech industries reflects a long-term structural change in the Australian economy and shows that digital skills are becoming deeply embedded into all facets of the economy.”

The technology workforce is now Australia’s seventh largest employing industry, with tech jobs now growing faster than the average job in every state and territory.

The average wage for tech jobs also remained high at around $132,000, the report found. Jobs in the direct-tech sector were the second highest paying of any category advertised on SEEK in the past year, only coming behind CEOs.

“Tech jobs are high paying and important, and importantly, their flexibility makes them accessible for those that have faced discrimination in other sectors, such as women and the differently abled,” Pounder said.

“TCA is committed to supporting initiatives that help upskill workers from other industries that have faced job insecurity and bring them into high-paying tech jobs.”

But despite being on track to meet the 1.2 million target, Pounder warned that more needs to be done to ensure the goal is met.

“To achieve this target, the tech sector is committed to working with the government across five key areas, including increasing awareness of the tech jobs opportunity, fixing gaps in education and training pathways, improving diversity in the tech workforce, target skilled migration to areas of high need and greatest shortages, and improve industry-level workforce supply and demand forecasts,” she said.

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