Government reveals top 10 in-demand skills as COVID-19, flu, and floods suppress hours worked

The federal government has released the latest Skills Priority List, revealing the industries and roles hit hardest by Australia’s skills shortage.

Based on the Skills Priority List, and data on employment growth and job vacancies, the top 10 in-demand professions over the next five years are:

• Construction managers;
• Civil engineering professionals;
• Early childhood educators;
• Registered nurses;
• ICT business and systems analysts;
• Software and applications programmers;
• Electricians;
• Chefs;
• Child carers; and
• Aged and disability carers.

Ahead of next week’s Jobs and Skills Summit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reinforced his commitment to TAFE education, promising 465,000 free places.

“Our goal is to build a strong VET sector to help more Australians get secure, well-paying jobs, while providing the skilled workers that business needs to grow our economy,” Albanese said.

COVID-19, flu and floods drove high workplace absenteeism in May, June and July

Workplace absence peaked in May this year, as sick leave meant more than 780,000 workers put in fewer hours, ABS data shows.

The figure remained high in June and, despite signs it may be back on the decline, was still at elevated levels for July — on par with the January figure of 750,000.

For context, pre-pandemic, the amount of employed people who worked fewer hours due to illness, injury or sick leave in May 2019 was roughly 450,000.

Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics at the University of South Australia told The Guardian the rise in people taking sick leave could be attributed to a number of factors including high rates of COVID-19 and influenza. Due to lockdowns and social distancing of the past two years, immunologists warned Australians would enter this winter with a lowered flu immunity.

“We reached the [Omicron] peak at about 20 July and since then numbers have been going down,” Esterman said. Australia is still recording 15,000-20,000 new cases each day and the pandemic is far from over — Esterman described a “trough between peaks” as the decrease slows. 

Flooding events have affected attendance too, with the ABS attributing an increase to 118,600  people working fewer hours due to weather or plant breakdown in July to NSW floods during that time. East Coast flooding in March is also visible here, having massive effects, with 505,000 working fewer hours.

On a lighter note, the percentage of workers who worked less due to annual leave, holidays, flex time or long service leave has clawed its way back to pre-pandemic levels – 11.6 percent in July. In July 2020 and 2021, these figures sat at 9 and 10% percent respectively as ongoing lockdowns kept Australians at home or at work.