ACS Australia’s Digital Pulse 2019 report provides a snapshot of Australia’s digital economy, workforce and policy landscape, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics on behalf of ACS. The analysis of Australia’s ICT sector, the increasing use of digital technologies, and key enablers of future growth and innovation provide a platform and evidence base for broader public discussion on digital issues.
According to the report, the highest policy priority for the digital economy is skills development. The benefit from reskilling workers to meet employer demand for digital skills could potentially be more than $11,000 per worker per annum for the Australian economy. Investment in reskilling will enable immediate skills shortages to be met and ensure Australia has the digital talent to seize new opportunities created by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A broader measure of employees, such as accountants, solicitors and scientists, will rely on technology skills to perform their work, even though they are not employed in core technology occupations. The demand for these workers who regularly use technology will increase by around 303,000 between 2018 and 2024. This increase in demand makes it imperative that we invest in reskilling and upskilling our current workforce to become a digital workforce.
This edition of the report focuses on Australia’s tax framework and its suitability to attract investments and global technology talent, benchmarking it against other western countries. Capital is globally mobile, and Australia needs to lift its standards to remain internationally competitive as an attractive destination for the world’s best technology talent. The report identifies what policy levers need to be addressed to materially lift our living standards as we move forward to a digitally-enabled future. Download the full report to explore its key findings regarding Australia’s digital economy.