AI could create 200,000 extra jobs in Australia, but the challenge is where to find the workers

Marty McCarthy Tech and Innovation News Editor, LinkedIn

AI could result in the creation of an extra 200,000 jobs in Australia by 2030 and grow the economy by up to $115 billion.

That’s according to new analysis by the Tech Council of Australia (TCA), Microsoft, LinkedIn and Workday VNDLY released today.

The report notes these new roles will not all be tech-focused ones like machine learning engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity professionals, but will also include jobs in support areas.

“This growth won’t be isolated to the tech sector or tech jobs. In addition to roles that are responsible for developing, designing and maintaining AI systems, we will need people with skills in areas such as human resources, sales and governance to successfully scale these systems and businesses to harness the potential in front of us,” said Damian Kassabgi, the CEO of the TCA.

Under a scenario where the technology is adopted quicky, the TCA estimates AI could contribute an annual economic benefit of $115 billion, with most of this windfall coming from AI’s boost to Australia’s stagnant productivity growth.

The report also found the local AI workforce has grown substantially over the past decade, from 800 workers in 2014 to more than 33,000 now. 

“While many occupations that could be pathways into AI jobs are growing fast, this growth is unlikely to be fast enough to meet the potential 500% increase in AI jobs between now and 2030,” the report states.

“While we forecast fast growth in supply across these occupations, they’re unlikely to grow as fast as demand. This will result in shortages.”

The TCA refers to ‘feeder' AI workers to do the heavy lifting in making up the 200,000 figure.

'Feeder' roles are people in an existing tech jobs or similar STEM occupations, such as engineers, but who do not yet have the skills to be a machine learning engineer, for example.

The report touts professionals in their mid-careers as solutions to the problem, with an expansion of re-training pathways and programs and upskilling of existing workers. The report says these efforts would have to operate at scale.

"The most efficient way to grow the AI workforce is to educate our existing workforce. Most of our workforce is computer-literate and AI could be just an extension of the existing systems they are already using," said Ada Guan, CEO and Co-Founder of Rich Data Co.

Annie Liao 🇦🇺, the founder of AI incubator Build Club, told LinkedIn News Australia another way to encourage people to the sector is through hands-on projects that help people develop skills and passion for Machine Learning,

"This comes with people finding community groups to join, courses and AI activations such as hackathons or mini projects they can team up with peers and build together on. Because AI is moving so fast, the best way to learn to be a great AI engineer is to start building," she said.

The report’s first recommendation is to expand and enhance VET and short-course offerings to accommodate students, including mid-career ones, wanting to learn to perform AI-related tasks and roles.

However the report acknowledges these workers alone would not be enough to help meet the 200,000 figure.

The report also recommends that in addition to upskilling and retraining of workers, skilled migration should be reformed to “enable us to fully meet the demand in these occupations”, particularly for highly technical, experienced roles, along with investment in entry-level training.

Richard White, the CEO and Founder of WiseTech Global, sees local high school graduates as the best option for building the tech workforce at his own company.

Tapping into school-leavers

Australia's largest ASX-listed tech company, WiseTech Global, pays high school graduates entering university the equivalent of $300,000 to do a tech-related university degree while also working at the company.

The students earn a salary and a share package.

“After their first year, they are stronger at the capabilities we need than a traditional university graduate. As a cohort, they are at the top of the academic results,” he told LinkedIn News Australia. 

“There are probably about 100,000 high school graduates across Australia every year. What we need to do is incentivise people much earlier in high school to want to be in the technology space.

“Re-skilling and cross-skilling and upskilling are all valuable things, but they are fractional compared with the impact that this could have".

Kendra Vant, an AI mentor for Boards and C-suite and LinkedIn Top Voice said investing in qualified AI professionals at the leadership level would have a trickle down effect, and help to attract more workers to the sector.

“We lack leaders at executive and board level with deep technical expertise who can comfortably guide investment in internal capability. This lack of investment leads to lack of roles which drives qualified people offshore and discourages students from studying in quantitative fields,” she said.

💡Want to learn more about addressing the tech worker shortage? Follow Richard White.

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AI uptake surges for knowledge workers

The report also found Australians are rapidly adopting AI with over 84% of knowledge workers already using tools at work.

The global average is 75%, while the United States is 71%, the UK 69% Canada at 62% France at 57% and Japan at 32%. 

“After the initial shock and awe of AI tools going mainstream in 2023, a lot of Australians seemed to take a breath before finding ways to apply these tools to their work,” said Jamie van Leeuwen, the founder of Absolutely Ai and a LinkedIn Top Voice.

“The rapid rise in adoption shows that businesses are now more curious and savvy about adopting AI tools — which I think is a great thing. There's no reason why Australia can't be a leader in AI adoption.”

Workers said the main benefit of generative AI is that it helps them save time (90%), while 85% said they use it to focus on their most important work, and 84% use it for creative purposes. 

“The best way to grow the AI workforce is for Australian businesses to build a positive environment for AI adoption. Allow your staff to use the latest tools in a safe way and promote an attitude of exploration,” van Leeuwen said to LinkedIn News Australia.

According to the report, currently, the largest employers of AI workers in Australia are in Education and Training, Technology and Financial Services.

Want to learn more about practical and creative uses of AI? Follow Jamie van Leeuwen.

Australia’s female AI workforce is growing

The sector also needs to attract and develop more female AI professionals.

Recently released LinkedIn data, published in the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, found women still make up less of the workforce in Australia.

As of 2023, only 27% of AI talent in Australia were women. However, this is an improvement from 23.5% in 2016.

Australia lags behind Singapore (34.9%), France (30.7%), Italy (30.41%), the US (29.4%) UK (27.6%) but is ahead of India (25.6%), Germany (21.1%) and Brazil (18.4%).

"Our growth rate shows how our industry is maturing in this positive direction," said Liao.

"However, change takes time and it takes not just passively supporting the ecosystem but championing women in the field. For example, at Build Club we have a women in AI subgroup."

However, the data also showed that the concentration of women in AI engineering more than doubled since 2016, increasing at a faster rate for women (+171%) than for men (+126%) and improving representation. However, men still make up the majority. 

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