Government plans to welcome 1.2 million tech workers by 2030 - is HR ready?

Employers across all sectors have recently joined forces to create a single commitment to provide 1.2 million tech workers in Australia by 2030, which the government plans to welcome.

Recently, HRD reported on creating a roadmap for the country’s tech jobs’ future and the digital sector’s consequent calls for the federal government to commit to its vision.

Now that the government solidified its commitment to deliver, it begs the question: Are employers ready to “future-proof” their businesses to meet the demands of a booming industry?

Employers’ single vision

Tech Council of Australia’s (TCA) CEO, Kate Pounder, said that tech jobs are crucial to Australia’s future as these are the “fastest-growing, best-paid, most secure, and most flexible jobs in Australia.”

“These jobs are critical to every major industry in the Australian economy – as demonstrated by the broad range of employers and educators participating in the Digital Employment Forum, from sectors as diverse as retail, banking, mining, government, professional services, software and telecommunications, all with a shared vision to create pathways into jobs,” Pounder said according to TCA’s media release.

Moreover, having more Australians in tech jobs serves as one of the most forceful levers existing to reach the goals of the upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit, which includes raising productivity and wages without having inflationary pressures, increasing job security, resolving the gender pay gap and improving employment outcomes for disadvantaged Australians, the media release said.

Obstacles to the goal

Despite the promising goal in the tech sector, TCA said that the report “Getting to 1.2 million jobs – Our roadmap to create a thriving Australian tech workforce” showed that there are substantial shortages specifically for the technical and experienced tech roles.

“Vacancy rates in tech are 60 percent higher than the national average and are forecast to grow at triple the rate,” TCA said.

“The most severe shortages are in technical occupations like software programmers and computer network professionals, but there are also big gaps in commercial and creative roles like product managers,” it added.

TCA also said that the report revealed five main obstacles that block Australians from accessing tech jobs opportunity, which include:

1. Australians lack awareness about what tech jobs exist or how to get into them.
2. Current training products and pathways into tech jobs are not always fit for purpose.
3. There are strong demographic skews in tech jobs, with women, older Australians, and regional Australians under-represented.
4. There is a small talent pool of people with the skills and experience needed to work in professional technical roles, which have boomed.
5. Australia lacks coordinated effort, analysis, and planning for the tech workforce.

“We believe Government and industry need to work together to break down these barriers,” Pounder said.

“We believe Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be a global technology powerhouse, leading in critical fields like Quantum and Fintech as well as increasing our lead in B2B software as a service,” she added.

In order to break down the barriers, the report provided relevant proposals that employers could carry out even without assistance from the government, such as:

1. Designing and implementing a nationwide awareness campaign on the benefits of tech jobs.
2. Establishing a virtual work experience program for secondary students to ensure all Australians, regardless of where they live, can be exposed to the benefit of tech jobs.
3. Making a public commitment to improving diversity within the tech workforce.

Meanwhile, Digital Skills Organisation CEO Patrick Kidd said that the sector wants to ensure employers prioritise creating entry-level pathways, encouraging internal workforce development, and continuously offering flexible conditions and relevant work.

“It is our mission as an industry to make digital skills and technology careers more accessible to more people and quickly — regardless of backgrounds, training or experience,” Kidd said, according to TCA.