BEYOND COVID: Experts predict how and where Australians will work in 2021
Recruiters and analysts have revealed where Australia’s next round of jobs will be and how workers will need to adapt to survive.
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The 2021 employment landscape is expected to be tough for many, as demand for work outgrows supply – but it is not all doom and gloom.
Experts predict pockets of job growth in a range of sectors, an increasing ability to work from home and a more even playing field for regional jobseekers.
Here is some of the good, bad and different we can expect next year:
JOB GROWTH IN SPECIFIC FIELDS
Hays regional director Eliza Kirkby said although some sectors had taken a significant hit during the coronavirus pandemic, there would “definitely be opportunities for people now and continuing into the new year”.
“The active spaces at the moment are healthcare for nurses and support workers, procurement and logistics for transport and delivery drivers, and banking and insurance for call centre and processing staff,” she said.
“Within the public sector, we have seen demand for transport planners, policy professionals, and IT and digital candidates.
“We have seen cyber and data security become a busy area … and we expect that continue across 2021.”
She said construction workers – including project managers, engineers and tradespeople – would be in demand next year as the government funded more infrastructure projects.
A need for social distancing guidelines and employee wellbeing programs would also create jobs in occupational health and safety and in human resources.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES OUTSIDE OF CAPITAL CITIES
Adecco Group chief executive Rafael Moyano said employers would “fish from a wider pond” in 2021 as Australia’s new-found acceptance of working from home dissolved geographical barriers.
People in regional areas will be able to apply for roles previously reserved for city folk.
“We will have people working in different states but not too much overseas,” Mr Moyano said.
“Companies will like to control their supply chain and not be dependant on what is happening outside (international) borders.”
Alexandra Hills’ Lisa Bourke hopes to give more regional talent a chance when hiring for her new, 100 per cent remote business Content Hive.
She quit her city office job in the middle of the pandemic to start the digital marketing business and has already hired two remote workers and is about to hire another.
“I see a massive opportunity to pick up talent at the moment, and with a work-from-home model, you can hire anywhere in the country,” she said.
“(I would like to) have a 50:50 split where I hire people who live in city areas and in country towns.
“I had to move to the city to do a degree and get a job but that’s the old days, in the new days you can stay out there and afford to buy a house and work from anywhere.”
MORE TEMP AND FREELANCE WORK
Full-time, permanent work may still dominate the job market, but its share has been slowly dwindling for years.
Exclusive analysis from job site SEEK revealed full-time work made up 65 per cent of job ads in the first half of 2020, down from 80 per cent in 2007.
Meanwhile, the portion of casual, part-time and temporary positions increased.
SEEK senior employment analyst Leigh Broderick said temporary roles were most common in hospitality and tourism, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and medical, community services, and information and communications technology.
“The benefits to the hirer for utilising temporary roles is that they can quickly respond to the increases and decreases in demands in volume of work, and many employees like the flexibility of short term work as it fits in with their lifestyle,” he said.
Exclusive June figures from Freelancer.com revealed a 34 per cent increase in freelance work in Australia year on year.
The most in-demand freelancers had skills in graphic design, Adobe Photoshop, computer programming language PHP, logo design, website design, HTML, Adobe Illustrator, WordPress, article writing and data entry.
Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie said COVID-19 had been a catalyst for freelancing growth but the trend would continue beyond the pandemic.
“We think the workforce will be irrevocable changed from COVID,” he said.
“The GFC saw a permanent step change (and) COVID is GFC cubed.”
MORE NEWS
Originally published as BEYOND COVID: Experts predict how and where Australians will work in 2021
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