For those of us who feel underemployed, this question remains a perennially unanswered one. Long term economic analyses have identified the continuing demise of the local manufacturing sector. Employment growth has been around half of what is was prior to the Global Financial Crisis in 2009. Health care and social assistance have been growth areas, but manufacturing is down 6.4% and agriculture, forestry and fishing are down by 6.6%. We are living in an era of increasing automation and the outsourcing of manual labour overseas. It is not a good time to be working with your hands, when even heads are, now, being replaced by computers.
Employment Outlook 2018: Where Are the Jobs of the Future?
The Australian government’s Department of Employment projects growth in health care and social assistance; education and training; retail; professional and technical services; construction; accommodation and food services; public administration and safety; transport and warehousing; financial services; wholesale trade; and real estate services and hiring; and utility services. Mining; agriculture; and manufacturing are all heading south – and they are traditionally large employers. Our ageing population means that healthcare and social assistance will be a strong growth area for many years to come.
Becoming a chef remains a good career move. A hospitality career, if you can really make a career in an industry so strongly predicated on casual and part time labour, is placed in the government’s top 3 growth areas of employment in 2018. Healthcare sits above food services, so medical training can be invaluable to those looking for work going forward. Australia is an island continent, with a handful of capital cities on its coastline servicing its population in the main. Real estate is expensive, and the dream of home ownership is fast fading for large sections of the population.
The wealth of the country is being refined into the grip of a smaller section of society and service industries are springing up to cater for the needs of the wealthy. Inequality is growing much faster than employment levels or opportunities in the great southern land. Education is more important than ever, with physical jobs disappearing and, now, midlevel management positions being replaced by automation. Tertiary qualifications are essential for the jobs of the future, especially the better paid jobs. Employment growth levels for those with a degree are predicted to be considerably higher than those with lesser training levels.
