EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS for HR managers and professionals will be healthy over the coming five years, a Department of Employment and Workplace Relations report has found
EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS for HR managers and professionals will be healthy over the coming five years, a Department of Employment and Workplace Relations report has found.
The Australian Jobs 2005 report also found accountants, customer service managers, dieticians, finance managers, legal professionals, office managers, park rangers and pharmacists will have very good employment prospects until 2009–2010.
“Significantly, the guide highlights the positive growth Australia is experiencing in some of our key occupations like medical professionals, environmental and agricultural scientists and in electrical trades,” said Minister for Workforce Participation, Peter Dutton.
The report split HR functions into two separate groups: managers and professionals. Employment growth for HR managers was 43.5 per cent in the five years to February 2005.
The main employing industries were property and business services (23 per cent); government, administration and defence (15 per cent); and manufacturing (13 per cent).
Interestingly, jobs growth for HR professionals over the same five year period was just 2.1 per cent.
The main employing industries were also property and business services (28 per cent); government, administration and defence (13 per cent) and manufacturing (11 per cent).
However, the definitions for both groups overlap and were open to interpretation, according to David Owens, associate director at HR Partners.
When combined the growth figure of 45.6 per cent represents “phenomenal growth in HR in the last five years,” he said.
“What that does is really pay a huge testament to the value that people wish to draw from quality HR management in organisations. The growth can partly be attributed to the perceived value of HR as a function.”
The findings reinforce HR as a valuable business proposition, he said.
“Businesses have learnt to use HR much more smartly and have been able to measure their outcomes better and the impact on the business and its bottom line.”
The healthy job prospect outlook is reflective of “desperate demographics [that] indicate that recruitment and workforce planning need to be well structured and well though out [over the next five years],” Owens said.
Meanwhile, the outlook for environmental and occupational health and safety professionals was very good, with low unemployment and employment growth of 23 per cent in the five years to February 2005.
Those occupations with an average jobs outlook include many with cyclical and environmental sensitivities such as building and construction professionals; painters and decorators; telecommunications and electronics workers; flight and travel attendants; farm workers; sales representatives; and library staff.
Almost a million new jobs were created in Australia in the five years to February 2005, the report said.
Two in three of these came from four industries – retail trade, health and community services, construction, and property and business services.
Jobs in the accommodation, cafés and restaurant sector are expected to join these four, acting as the main drivers of job growth.
Overall, these five industries are expected to account for more than 80 per cent of Australia’s new jobs to 2009–10.
