Strategy & Consulting

Creating a thriving Australian tech workforce

August 2, 2022 5-MINUTE READ

RESEARCH REPORT

In brief

The Tech Council of Australia [TCA] commissioned Accenture to deliver research to examine the technology skills gap for Australia.
The Digital Employment Forum (DEF) Workforce report outlines the key priorities to reach Australia’s goal of 1.2 million tech jobs by 2030.
A shortfall of 186,000 tech workers is expected by 2030, with a number of system-wide and occupation-specific barriers impacting tech employment.
Addressing these barriers will contribute around $A36billion annually to GDP by 2030.

Tech jobs are critical for Australia’s productivity

Our research for the Tech Council of Australia found that the tech sector is currently the third largest contributor to Australia’s GDP and the seventh largest employer. But there’s expected to be a shortfall of 186,000 tech workers by 2030. If we want to capture the economic opportunities of the sector, we need to create 1 million tech jobs by 2025 and 1.2 million by 2030. Addressing these challenges will also contribute around $A36 billion annually to Australia’s GDP by 2030.

Collaborating across government, industry, education and organisations, the nation needs to:

· Increase awareness and understanding of opportunities in tech.

· Develop clear standards and pathways to build priority capabilities.

· Simplify learner experience to access skills and pathways.

· Improve diversity of the tech workforce.

· Improve industry-level workforce supply and demand analysis.

Click here to access the media release.

Working together to address the talent shortage

The skills shortage is not insurmountable. By bringing together government, industry, education and organisations, the report presents some core recommended initiatives to help accelerate greater productivity, enabling Australia to reach its workforce targets and realise its growth potential.

These initiatives include:

· Increasing awareness and understanding of opportunities in tech, including national awareness campaigns and engagement programs with secondary and tertiary students.

· Developing clear standards and pathways to build priority capabilities, with reference points for skills and workforce development pathways.

· Simplifying learning experiences to access skills and pathways, including recognition of existing skills and fast-track training for priority roles.

· Improving the diversity of the tech workforce through targeted programs for women, Indigenous Australians, humanitarian visa holders and more.

· Improving industry-level workforce supply and demand analysis for ongoing strategic workforce planning and assessment of initiatives.

To learn more about the recommendations, as well as examples of the types of campaigns and approaches that are being successfully adopted around the world, download the report.