Trends and Prospects in the ICT Labour Market- July 2008 Indicators.

Over the past 20 years, employment in ICT occupations has shown long-term growth. ICT skills play an increasingly vital role in almost all occupations , and contributes to productivity gains, innovation and job growth accross all Australian industries.

In May 2008, approximately 382,700 workers were employed in ICT occupations, representing 3.6% of the total Australian workforce. Over the past decade more than 100,000 new ICT jobs were created with growth of 102,200. Of the total employment in ICT occupations, 208,600 workers were employed as ICT professionals (Computing Professionals and IT Managers) and 46,300 were employed as Computing Support Technicians.

In recent years, employment levels for ICT Professionals have shown a degree of variability. This reflects a number of factors- for instance, the dot-com crash that occured in the early 2000s and use of international outsourcing for some ICT activities. Strong long-term growth in employment of ICT Professionals is evident- 67,300 new jobs or growth of 47.6% in the ten years to May 2008 - even though employment has risen only slightly in the past five years (up by just 3,200 or 1.6%). This growth is reflected in the Computer Services industry- job growth of 59,500 or 63.9% to 152,600. Although this is the industry most reflective of the demand for ICT workers, employment of ICT workers is spead across all industries.

Australia is facing a widening gap between the demand for ICT skills and the supply of qualified ICT workers. Further growth in employment in ICT occupations is expected in the next five years and this will increase the demand for ICT Professionals- at a time when the supply of qualified graduates is expected to be considerably lower than at present. Strong demand for ICT skills is evident. In the five years to June 2008, the ICT Vacancy Index (published by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations- DEEWR) rose by 237% to 251.1% (January 2002= 100). The number of ICT vacancies has more then tripled in this period to a weekly average of around 23,200 in June 2008.

Skill shortage research undertaken by DEEWR shows that there are national shortages for several ICT skills and these have been included on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL). The strong ICT labour market has resulted in lower unemployment for ICT Professionals in recent years and ICT career prospects are good. Graduate outcomes have also improved with around 85% of ICT graduates in full-time employment in 2007 (83.0% for Computer Science and 86.9% for Electronic ad Computing Engineering).

Information source
Labour Supply and Skills Branch, Australian Government Department of Education,Employment and Workplace Relations.