This state is experiencing a 'resurging' tech workforce

Victoria’s tech sector employment has consistently pushed its momentum towards a “strong recovery” after its struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Australian Computer Society (ACS).

This announcement comes after ACS’s report, as the professional association for the country’s technology sector, revealing that the state’s IT employment “bounced back to 271,474 – a surge of over ten percent over 2021’s figures which showed a 0.3% decline on the previous twelve months.”

The report’s findings about Victoria

The report “Digital Pulse,” conducted by Deloitte Access Economics, tracked the key trends in the country’s technology workforce and its five-year potential. According to a media release, the report revealed:

• 7.9% of Victoria’s workforce now work in the technology sector.
• 271,474 Victorians have IT jobs.
• This is 25,311, or 10.3% more than last year.
• Over the next five years, Victoria’s tech sector is expected to employ 369,970 people.
• Annual growth of the state’s tech workforce estimated to be 5.3%.

“Last year’s flat result was disappointing as the rest of the nation’s tech workforce boomed, but we’re glad to see the state is back on track. The growth though illustrates how important it is to build the state’s digital skills base.” ACS Victoria chair Dr. Rod Dilnutt said in a statement.

“The technology sector’s strong growth over the past year illustrates the successes Victoria has had in attracting some of the world’s top tech talent and businesses,” he said.

The national findings

The report stated that the country’s own tech workforce “grew by 8% over the previous year, with over 870,000 Australians now working in IT roles. By comparison, the workforce as a whole only grew 3.4%.”

“In the next five years, the tech sector will employ over 1.2 million Australians, with the workforce having an average annual growth rate of 5.5%,” the report added.

It further emphasised the “need for Australian businesses and government to do more to train workers and encourage greater diversity in the technology workforce.”

“Women represent only 31% of the technology workers, compared to 48% across the Australian workforce,” the report pointed out.

Recommendations

The report highlighted measures to address the country’s need for technological skills, which are the following:

1. develop and promote workplace policies to encourage diverse technology talent
2. provide schoolteachers with more resources to improve student digital literacy and increase awareness of technology career pathways
3. greater coordination between agencies to develop skills in the technology workforce
4. further encourage businesses to deepen digital skills in other occupations
5. work to retain existing technology talent in Australia
6. encourage employers to consider more diverse pathways into the technology sector
7. boost government and industry investment in the technology sector.

“Australia’s tech workforce growth has been astonishing – we will soon have one million tech workers in this country,” a partner at Deloitte Access Economics and the report’s co-author, John O’Mahony, explained in the media release.

“Individuals can earn, on average, an extra $11,000 every year in salary in tech occupations compared with other professional occupations. If we can boost diversity in the technology workforce, it could be worth over $20 billion to our economy over the next two decades,” O’Mahony said.

“Businesses can better retain current workers and attract new staff by supporting diverse workforces and flexible working conditions,” the report added.