ACT sees tech jobs boom despite Covid

May 25, 2021 – For immediate release

The ACT leads the nation in tech employment, the 2021 edition of the ACS Australia’s Digital Pulse report has found.

Prepared by Deloitte Access Economics for ACS, Digital Pulse tracks the key trends in Australia’s technology workforce and the sector’s potential over the next five years. Key ACT findings in this year’s report include:

• 30,948 people work in the ACT’s tech sector, a 16.3% jump on last year. This is nearly four times the industry’s national growth of 4.3%.
• The ACT workforce has the largest proportion of ICT workers, making up 12.8% of employment. This is more than double the national share of 6.2%.
• ACT technology roles are expected to continue to grow strongly with the Territory’s tech workforce to number 42,698 by 2026, a growth rate of 5.5%.

The report can be downloaded from the ACS website at www.acs.org.au. National findings of the report included.

• Over the next five years, the technology workforce is forecast to exceed 1.1m Australians, more than four times faster than the broader labour force numbers.
• Young Australians are recognising the value of digital skills with IT being the fastest growing field of education for domestic enrolments with over 41,000 in 2019.
• Nevertheless, current trends indicate an impending gap between the need for extra 60,000 technology workers each year and just 7,000 domestic IT degree graduates. Boosting reskilling and restarting migration will be essential to meet Australia’s ICT needs.
• The Australian ICT sector’s gender imbalance threatens to hold the economy back, as achieving parity in the industry would boost employment by 5,000 new workers a year in the first 20 years.
• The top software programming skills demanded by employers include SQL (requested in 14% of job postings), Java (10%) and DevOps (9%).

ACS President Ian Oppermann said of the ACT results: “The strong ICT employment growth recorded by the Territory shows the important role technology played in helping government and business stay on course during the pandemic.

“However, beyond the short-term needs, the adoption of emerging technologies around artificial intelligence, smart cities and the Internet of Things is going to make ICT workers even more critical to the local economy. We’re pleased to see initiatives coming out at both Territory and Federal levels to boost workforce digital skills, but ACS would like to see more to address the gaps identified in the report.”

However, the ICT sector’s growth will provide challenges to the economy. The report identifies a looming gap between the 60,000 technology workers a year needed and the if recent current domestic completions of IT degrees. The future of technology workforce will substantially rely on reskilling from other industries. Meanwhile, the lack of female representation could cost the economy $11bn over the next two decades unless we accelerate towards gender parity.

This year’s Digital Pulse identifies five areas where Australia could address its ICT weaknesses:

• Promote ICT education
• Deepen digital skills across industries
• Boost female participation in ICT
• Re-energise digital transformation programs
• Identify IT contractors’ capabilities

-ENDS-

Further information

Troy Steer

Director of Corporate Affairs and Public Policy

M – 0417 173 740

E – troy.steer@acs.org.au

About ACS

ACS is the professional association for Australia's technology sector. More than 48,000 ACS members work in business, education, government and the community. ACS exists to create the environment and provide the opportunities for members and partners to succeed. ACS strives technology professionals to be recognised as drivers of innovation in our society, relevant across all sectors, and to promote the formulation of effective policies on technology and related matters. Visit www.acs.org.au for more information.