Australia Digital Pulse 2022 is released – what does it mean for ACT?
20 July 2022
Highlights
- Australia's technology workforce has grown to 870,268 in 2021, an increase of 8 percent on the previous year.
- By 2024 there will be over 1 million technology works in Australia
- Diversity remains a problem, but the share of women in technology occupations increased by 1.86 percentage points to 31 percent. This is the highest level since Digital Pulse was launched in 2014.
The world is half way through its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, but as Australia is adjusting to a new normal (the 2021 buzz word), how are you feeling about your future?
Are you enjoying the benefits of being a part of one of Australia’s fastest growing sectors? Are you one of the 20 percent of workers looking to move to a new employer or one of the 14 percent looking to leave the technology sector?
This year’s ACS Australia’s Digital Pulse: Unlocking the tech sector beyond one million has been published. It can be downloaded via this link.
As professionals in the field, we all know the importance of technology to Australian businesses, the workforce and community, and the economy. But did you know that the productivity dividend from digital innovations has resulted in a 6.5% in economic activity, equivalent to an additional $126 bn in gross domestic product to the economy?
ICT exports reached $5.09 bn in 2020-21 while there was a decline in ICT imports, leading to a trade surplus of $665 million.
At the same time, the ICT workforce continued to grow during 2021 with an additional 64,743 tech workers than in 2020. That’s 8 percent growth!
What about the ACT?
Well, the Territory has the highest proportion of tech workers in the country at 14.5 percent compared to a national figure of 6.7percent.
The Territory’s workforce is now 35,209 which is a growth of 13.8 percent from the year before. This is over double the modeled average annual growth that was reported last year.
And our workforce is expected to grow to 48,662 by 2027.
This year’s ACS Australia’s Digital Pulse considers where this workforce will come from. Obviously, there are two sides to the coin: attraction of new workers and the retention of the current workforce.
The report discusses three options for attracting workers to the sector:
- Increase the pipeline of students all the way back to early schooling through to university & VET,
- People coming to Australia via skilled migration & temporary work visas
- Reskilling workers from similar sectors and increasing digital literacy.
When it comes to retaining tech workers, the report delves into diversity and the need to reduce discrimination, greater commitment and investment in skills development to maintain currency, and employee engagement.
ACS Canberra uses this report to inform its priorities. For example, the Branch Executive Committee and Branch staff have agreed that its priorities for FY2023 include growing and diversifying the profession, and growing membership benefits and the ACS profile and influence.
For example, this year the Branch is delivering a Skills Canberra funded program supporting women transitioning into an ICT career. We are also focusing on engaging with education providers to increase the knowledge of career options and establish an emerging professionals group to help retain those who have entered the workforce.
ACS Canberra will be hosting a briefing of the ACS Australia’s Digital Pulse report on 25th July where we will be engaging with influencers within our region.
So what does your future hold? Either way, ACS Canberra wants to be your life long professional partner to help you reach your full potential no matter what your career path looks like.
Find out more about what ACS can do for you, membership benefits and upcoming events.