Healthcare jobs pandemic’s most resilient
Scott Morrison’s post-pandemic training reforms will be underpinned by new data identifying the nation’s most resilient occupations.
Scott Morrison’s post-pandemic training reforms — aimed at getting Australians into stable jobs and plugging skills gaps across the economy — will be underpinned by new National Skills Commission data identifying the nation’s most resilient occupations and high-demand industries.
A major report to be released by the independent commission on Monday shows demand for jobs in the healthcare, social assistance, construction, mining, transport, education and training sectors will remain high.
The Shape of Australia’s Post COVID-19 Workforce report says the most resilient jobs are dominated by the health sector, including nurses, GPs, those in aged care and disability, and mental health professionals, as well as the transport, agriculture and education sectors, with ongoing demand for high school teachers, plant operators and delivery drivers.
The NSC’s occupational resilience framework, set up to support the Prime Minister’s JobTrainer program, was established to inform the government’s skills and training policies and guide career decisions.
National Skills Commissioner Adam Boyton told The Australian there were “signs of recovery” in the labour market, as the states and territories continue to reopen their economies and contain the COVID-19 spread.
The NSC’s monthly Internet Vacancy Index showed activity fell sharply as the pandemic peaked. There has been steady improvement through to October, with job advertisements increasing by 6.2 per cent.
The report says the number of newly advertised jobs has increased for six consecutive months and had “more than doubled from the April series low point — up by 83,300 job advertisements”.
“Jobs are starting to return even in some of the industries and occupations most impacted by the shutdowns, but recovery is uneven, and young people are most affected,” Mr Boyton said.
“Job recovery in capital cities is lagging compared to regional areas. Capital cities have seen an average fall of job advertisements by 20 per cent for the year, compared to an increase of 17.6 per cent for regional areas.”
Mr Boyton said the NSC had developed a resilient occupations framework ranking 358 occupations to improve “our understanding of what has been a highly volatile labour market”.
“Over the period of economic recovery, more and more occupations are likely to see solid and sustained increases in employment. This means that job growth won’t be confined to the occupations ranked as the most resilient.’’
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the NSC data was “critical to our understanding of the future of Australia’s labour market”.
“It shows where the new jobs will be created and reinforces the Morrison government’s work to make skills and vocational education and training more flexible and relevant to actual labour-market demand,” Senator Cash said.
She said the Coalition was focused on continuing reforms across the vocational education and training sector to address shifts in the labour market.
“COVID-19 has expedited these reforms. We have made the necessary changes to the VET sector to ensure the training that Australians are undertaking is relevant and fit for purpose,” she said. “Given the disruption in the labour market caused by COVID-19, knowing that the job you are training for now will still be there in the future is critical for all Australians and our future prosperity.
“The list of resilient jobs also provides for a mix of training requirements, which means Australians can train for them in the short and long term.”
The Morrison government has invested almost $7bn across the VET sector this year, with the funding targeted at supporting more Australians into high-demand and resilient jobs.
The NSC report says employment has “rebounded strongly” since May, rising by 648,500 (or 5.3 per cent) to stand at 12,773,900 in October. Victoria accounted for almost half of the 178,800 surge in October.
It says young people are “proportionally less represented in the resilient occupations”. “The resilient occupations represent 25.4 per cent of youth employment, compared with 33.9 per cent of employment for all ages, again reflecting the greater impact COVID-19 has had on young workers,” it says.
Part-time employment has recovered by 15 per cent since May and is now 4600 above the level recorded in March. Full-time employment rose by 110,200 but is 227,700 below March levels. Between March and May, 665,100 people left the labour force.
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