health care and social assistance jobs are expected to add 250,500 new jobs over the five years to May 2022.
According to the Australian Jobs 2018 guide, the top three hiring occupations in the healthcare and social assistance sector are registered nurses, aged and disabled carers, and child carers. The top 10 occupations projected to add to the largest number of new jobs over the next few years are aged and disabled carers. This sector is expected to have the biggest number of growth with a predicted increase of 77,400 jobs. Registered nurses comes a close second with the number of nursing jobs expected to grow by 65,300. In tenth place are general practitioners and resident medical officers, with positions predicted to grow by 14,500.
The healthcare industry in Australia is a highly educated workforce with the majority employed as professionals and a large proportion of the workforce is aged 55 years or older. The guide states that “Health Care and Social Assistance is projected to have the strongest employment growth of any industry over the five years to May 2022, supported by the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Australia’s ageing population.’
Ageing population drives growth
Jobs in healthcare and community services are experiencing significant growth due to Australia’s ageing population but jobs are available beyond aged care facilities. SEEK found that the top roles contributing to growth in healthcare jobs are physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and rehabilitation. Advertisements for positions in psychology, counselling and general practitioner roles also increased, in addition to aged care nursing. The majority of healthcare job ads are in metro areas but there has been a rise in jobs advertised outside of capital cities from 25 percent to 32 percent over the past seven years.
Positions available in sectors which support the health industry are also experiencing increasing demand. Medical laboratory scientists and pharmacy sales assistants’ positions are both forecast to increase by over a thousand. Overall, employment opportunities in all industries increased by 16.2% in February compared to the same time last year.
Healthstaff Recruitment aims to present you with access to the widest range of positions for GPs, Medical Specialists and Registered Nurses throughout Australia, New Zealand and UK. View our job board for current available healthcare positions.