Victoria’s IT sector is set to boom

Victoria will be a leaders in IT jobs growth over the next five years according to analysis in the 2021 ACS Digital Pulse report.

Digital Pulse, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics for ACS, tracks the key trends in the national technology workforce, as well as the sector’s potential over the next five years, and for Victoria, there’s plenty of upside, with the state’s IT sector forecast to grow by 5.8% annually over the next five years, just behind Queensland at 5.9% and above the national prediction of 5.4%.

Overall, the technology workforce is forecast to exceed 1.1m people by 2026, growing more than four times faster than the broader labour markets.

Victoria has the nation’s second largest ICT workforce, behind NSW, but the Digital Pulse report predicts that that gap will to narrow over the next five years and by 2026, nearly a third (31.4%) of Australia’s technology jobs are expected to be based in Victoria, which currently employs more than 246,000 people.

ACS CEO, Rupert Grayston, said that while Victoria’s tech workforce took a hit in 2020, declining by 0.3%, the stage is now set for the workforce to boom.

“We’re pleased to see that the state government’s initiatives to build the Victorian tech sector are bearing fruit although strong growth will create skills shortages as fields like artificial intelligence, smart cities and advanced manufacturing drive demand for highly-skilled workers,” he said.

Despite that potential, major challenges loom when it comes to meeting demand for IT workers. The Digital Pulse report says that while 60,000 workers a year will be needed, just 7,000 skilled workers will emerge annually via domestic IT degree graduations, leaving the options of reskilling from other industries or a major post-covid shift in immigration.

The full Digital Pulse report can be downloaded from the ACS at acs.org.au.