The share of ICT jobs facing skills shortages is down substantially, but technical specialists, engineers, teachers, and scientists are still hard to find, according to new government data.

Figures also show gender imbalance exacerbates the problem and mature-aged workers soften it.

Some 33 per cent of all jobs are in shortage nationally, down from 36 per cent last year, the newly updated Occupation Shortage List (OSL) from statistical employment monitor Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) has confirmed.

Some 303 out of 916 monitored occupations are currently listed as being in national shortage, marking its first decline since JSA began compiling figures in 2021.

Formerly known as the Skills Priority List, the OSL showed that 37 occupations stopped being in shortage over the past year, compared to just eight occupations that entered shortage.

The top five employing occupations in shortage this year collectively employ 824,973 people as aged or disabled carers, primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, truck drivers, and electricians.

Tech roles

Many once-scarce ICT-related occupations were no longer in shortage in many states, with roles such as ICT manager, ICT customer support officer, network administrator, telecommunications network engineer, chief information officer, and computer network and systems engineer back in the green in most Australian jurisdictions.

Shortages in cyber security and other ICT related fields – previously flagged as being at risk due to the government’s ongoing migration changes – were also easing, with cyber governance risk and compliance specialists out of shortage everywhere but NSW and Victoria.

The Northern Territory reported an adequate supply of cyber security engineers, and NSW is the only state that now has an adequate supply of developer programmers.

Many of the occupations with the most severe shortages have long lead times for training, JSA’s analysis of the new data showed.

Many ICT roles are no longer in shortage. Photo: Shutterstock

ICT roles – many of which remained in shortage nationwide during both 2023 and 2024 – were more likely to face what JSA calls a ‘long training gap’ because it takes years to produce suitably skilled workers.

Software and applications programmers were among the occupations instead facing a large suitability gap, JSA noted – meaning that “there are enough qualified applicants, but they are not regarded as suitable” due to a lack of employability, skills, and work experience.

Significantly, computer network professionals, multimedia specialists, and web developers were in shortage in 2023 but were declared no longer in shortage this year.

The fact that both faced suitability gaps last year suggests that employers have either adapted their requirements or found ways to train workers to fill the requirements of their jobs.

Gender, age disparity is exacerbating shortages

One of the most significant findings in the new data, JSA reports, is the apparent correlation between gender imbalance and persistent skills gaps.

For example, the new figures marked the fourth consecutive year of shortage for developer programmers – a field that, JSA noted, is comprised of 83.5 per cent men and just 16.5 per cent women.

The fact that gender disparities were similarly found across nearly every one of the largest employing occupations led JSA to conclude that “occupations with a gender-skewed workforce were more likely to be in shortage.”

For example, 97.9 per cent of electricians are male while 96.8 per cent of childcare workers are female.

“Heavily gender-skewed workforces may inadvertently constrain the labour supply, thereby increasing the likelihood of entrenched shortages,” JSA found.

It advises that “addressing the gender imbalance of occupations may be a sound long-term strategy to mitigate occupation shortages in the labour market.”

Bring on the mature aged workers

Occupations with larger numbers of mature aged workers were also more likely to be rated as having no skills shortage.

What skills shortage, ask Australia's mature age workers. Photo: Shutterstock

Those aged 55 or above, can exist in a sort of employment limbo within an ICT industry known for both shaming and firing older workers, and then begging them to return.

Surprisingly, JSA found that Australian employers aren’t resorting to pay increases to attract employees – a strategy taken by just 1 per cent of employers.

Instead, they tend to continue advertising in the same way and, the JSA found, “seek other strategies first before seeking to adjust wages to fill vacancies.”

Those strategies may be working, based on the latest figures.

Monthly online job advertisements are down by 18.2 per cent over the last year; the recruitment difficulty rate eased from 63 per cent last year to 55 per cent this year.

The fill rate for advertised vacancies increased from 59.4 per cent last year, to 69.5 per cent this year.