The ACS – the professional association for Australia’s ICT Sector – in partnership with Deloitte Access Economics, today launched new SA focused research, which found that demand in the local ICT employment sector will grow by an additional 2.2% each year, over the next six years.
The data follows the ACS’ recent launch of its report Australia’s Digital 
Pulse, which found there is a national demand for an additional 100,000 ICT workers over the next six years. However, with the number of graduates with ICT qualifications in significant decline since the early 2000s, Australia could be facing a serious problem to meet the number of workers required.
ACS President Brenda Aynsley said: “The data shows that our next generation workforce needs to have the digital skills in order to fuel our economy. The large demand for ICT professionals opens up enormous opportunities for students if they consider a career in ICT. Now, there are really great prospects for these people to head to South Australia to help bolster the growing industries here.
“There have been a number of recent digital and educational initiatives in South Australia which will help the state recover from some significant withdrawals that have occurred in the manufacturing sector over the last three years. The effectiveness of these initiatives will help drive the projected employment growth,” she said.
Key findings for SA show:
- Projected demand for ICT professionals is 2.2% annually, which is below the national average of 2.5% but is an encouraging result for a relatively young digital economy.
- ICT Sales shows the highest projected demand levels of 8.4% demonstrating the likely significant growth in new projects and initiatives within the South Australian digital economy.
- Currently the largest field in ICT is technical and professional, with over 10,000 workers in this occupation (nearly one third of the total ICT workforce).
- ICT professionals currently make up 4% of the total workforce (over 30,000 workers)
ACS South Australia Chair Jo Stewart-Rattray said: “The South Australian economy had, for a long time, relied on manufacturing to provide growth. It’s clear that we are going to need a new industry to provide this development, and now we have the chance to make this happen. We have great digital credentials and if we continue to encourage technology investment, we will only see positive outcomes.”
Key national findings show:
- Digital technologies is one of the fastest growing parts of Australia’s economy. Economic contribution grew in the past three years to a 5.1% share of our GDP – from $50 billion in 2011 to $79 billion in 2013-14.
- In 2014 there was 5% growth in the number of ICT professionals, with an increase to 600,000 ICT workers nationally.
Productivity growth in the Australian economy will be increasingly driven by digital technology in the future, particularly as the mining boom wanes. The rapidly growing digital economy means that ICT skills will play an increasingly important role in future economic growth. Australia needs to ensure that its education system, policy settings and business practices are all working towards equipping the country’s workers with the required technological skills.
Australia’s Digital Pulse report is available at http://bit.ly/ausdigitalpulse
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