Australia, like much of the world, is facing massive skills shortages.
According to Jobs and Skills Australia, a statutory government agency established within the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations in 2022, more than a third of all occupations assessed were in national shortage in 2023.
That means that 332 out of 916 occupations were in shortage, a 5 percent increase from the previous year with 66 occupations joining the list.
To help enable all relevant stakeholders aiming to improve this situation with all the relevant data, the Jobs and Skills Australia digital team embarked on a mission to create the Jobs and Skills Atlas, a digital tool providing a comprehensive overview of labour market data.
The tool provides wealths of data, accumulated from the likes of the ABS, Jobs and Skills Australia and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, in an easy to digest and analyse form.
The Atlas provides labour market data sets at a regional level across Australia and enables users to compare specific areas or professions against each other.
The Jobs and Skills Atlas is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence in GovTech Project, Product or Service. The GovTech Project, Product or Service category is sponsored by the Reason Group.
The Atlas is already being used by economists, researchers and analysts, with no data regularly added to it.
The aim is for the platform to become a commonly-used and useful economic data tool for educators, policy-makers, data experts, the media, students, businesses, not-for-profits, local councils and the general public.
This will ensure that all of these participants in Australia’s skills ecosystem have access to all available and relevant data and can then make useful decisions for the benefit of the wider economy.
The Jobs and Skills Atlas was released in beta form in August 2023 following extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders. These stakeholders included state and territory governments, industry, employers, trade unions and training providers.
It was built by the Jobs and Skills Australia digital team on a react framework, and features a largely JavaScript front-end on a Drupal CMS.
The National Skills Priority List has been included on the platform now, and it can be used to help address potential future gaps in Australia’s labour market.
The team has also recently incorporated wage and salary data, such as the median national earnings and age by industry or occupation, on the platform.
The success of the Atlas has already attracted international attention, with the Canadian government showing interest in developing its own version of it.
The Canadian Economic department has asked to use the platform, and is now looking at building a localised version of it.
Looking for brand exposure in front of Australia’s tech ecosystem? Purchase a table of 10 for the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a table sponsor.
The InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence are supported by the Australian Computer Society, Investment NSW, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Technology Council of Australia, TechnologyOne, National Artificial Intelligence Centre, CSIRO’s ON Innovation Program, Reason Group, Q-CTRL, University of New South Wales, and IP Australia.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.