In-demand skills in Australia
By 2030, if we continue our current path, Deloitte Australia estimates that there will be a total of 29 million skill shortages. That’s almost 25% higher than the shortages we are already experiencing in Australia, as shown in the diagram below. (Deloitte, 2019)
Of the three skills Deloitte looked at required for work of the hands (i.e., manual labour), none (0%) are in short supply. Of the 23 skills Deloitte examined under work of the head (i.e., cognitive task), 16 (or 70%) are in short supply. Of the nine skills, Deloitte classified as work of the heart (i.e., inherently human skills including interpersonal and creative skills that are hardest to mechanise), eight (or 89%) are in short supply.
Gaining ‘above-the-line’ skills should be the focus of many workers including school leavers and graduates.
The diagram below shows the ranking of skill shortages where customer service skills come out as the highest shortage in Australia.
By far the most in-demand skills relate to core functions within the workplace. These are critical skills which feature in all types of work in the future.
For example, 96% of Australian jobs require time management and organisational skills, 97% of jobs require customer service skills, and 70% of jobs require verbal communication skills.
Skills in digital literacy are required by 87% of jobs, but manual labor skills are required in 43% of jobs (and decreasing).
On a per-worker basis, skills shortages in Australia are expected to be seen across all industries, as shown in the diagram below.
Skills like customer service and time management consistently top the skills shortage list.
All industries will likely to experience shortages in these key skills, as shown in the diagram below.
While skill needs do vary by industry, there are some remarkable similarities.
By 2030, Deloitte expected that customer service and time management will be the most demanded skills in almost every industry.
Other skills that show up in the top three include digital literacy, sales, and innovative thinking.
In-demand jobs in Australia
According to the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, almost two (2) in every three (3) new jobs created in Australia to 2023 will come from the following four industries:
(1) Health care and social assistance
(2) Construction
(4) Professional, scientific and technical services
Other projected industries where employment will be strong are shown in the diagram below.
Other Australian resources available to you include:
(1) Projected industry and job growth.
(2) Job matrix.
Specific jobs that are expected to grow the most over the coming years to 2023 include:
(3) Child carers
(4) Software and applications programmers
(5) Waiters
(6) Education aides
Other top jobs with the largest projected employment growth over the next few years are listed below.
Other Australian resources available to you include:
(1) Skill shortages
(2) Occupational skill shortages information
(3) National, state and territory skill shortage information
(4) National occupational cluster reports
(5) National individual occupational reports
(6) Australian careers.
(8) Australian job snapshot
(9) Industry reports.
The bottom line is that by selecting those high demand jobs and industries, it will strengthen the demand for your skills upon graduation thereby ensuring that you have a higher likelihood of securing a job.
Is a university degree worth the effort?
Young people know that further education after high school is expected and usually in their long-term interests. They go on to higher education partly because higher education has become more accessible in recent years, but probably also in response to the lack of employment opportunities for young people.
There are uncertainties as to whether a university degree is best suited for them. In fact, for a substantial group of young people, their university application is not a firm decision. It is part of an on-going process of deciding what to do next.
Going to university may be a sociable and parent-pleasing way of getting more time to make a serious choice. For many, enrolling in a university course can be an experiment where many students may change direction after enrolling after learning more about themselves and their possible alternative futures.
Here’s what we know: (Grattan, 2018)
(1) There are 40% more people who go to university now than in 2008.
(2) About one in seven first-year students leave higher education.
(3) One in five students is more likely to drop out of university than complete their course.
(4) About one in ten university bachelor-degree students change course from one field of study to another from year to year.