Technology jobs snatched up as skills gap closes

Australia’s technology skills gap has closed by 29 per cent over the last two years, with at least a 45 per cent increase in online searches by job seekers looking for tech related roles.

A new report released today by job site Indeed has revealed an increase in the supply of tech candidates nationally, with Indeed alone having seen a 45 per cent increase in job seeker searches for tech roles over the last two years.

Despite this, 17 per cent of information and communication sector vacancies remained unfilled for over three month during the same period, and more than a third of the top 20 hardest jobs to fill in Australia are IT roles.

In addition to companies doing more to train their talent, universities are now more efficiently supplying a steady stream of talent, and Australia is succeeding at attracting international talent, according to Indeed.

The highest concentration of IT job postings is currently in Melbourne and Sydney, the Indeed research found, while job seekers were five times more interested in technology-related jobs in these two cities than the rest of the country put together.

With the City of Sydney and the South East Queensland region in the process of implementing digital future and smart city plans respectively, more technical jobs are likely to be available in these regions in the coming years.

“Australians are quick to embrace technology and disruptive ways of doing things. However, in recent years the labour market has not provided the required technical talent to really drive innovation forward,” said Tara Sinclair, PhD, economist at Indeed and associate professor of economics and international affairs at The George Washington University.

“The IT skills gap is now closing, driven by both companies training up talent, and world class universities providing a steady stream of new skilled workers.”

Indeed data also reveals that international job seekers are three times more likely to click on computer and mathematical jobs than other sectors.

“Employers struggling to find IT talent and risking jobs being chronically unfilled should consider tapping into the international qualified talent looking for opportunities in Australia,” added Sinclair.

“Given the numbers of overseas workers looking for opportunities, competition for these jobs will be high, meaning employers will have their pick of the bunch.”