A Vietnamese student studying nursing at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Photo from Queensland University of Technology’s Facebook page
This outlook comes from the 2025 Jobs and Skills Report, a comprehensive forecast released by Australia’s workforce advisory agency, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), in collaboration with Victoria University.
The report, which uses extensive economic and demographic data, forecasts that total employment in Australia will increase significantly: by 6.5%, or about 961,000 people, in the next five years (to May 2030), and by a total of 13.3%, or nearly two million people, over the full decade to May 2035.
Employment growth will be led by the healthcare and social assistance industry, which is expected to account for a vast portion of all new jobs. This sector’s share of total employment is projected to rise from 16.1% in 2025 to 17.5% in 2035, the most noticeable increase of any industry. It is projected to add 541,900 new positions over the decade.
Trailing this growth is the professional, scientific and technical services industry, which is expected to grow by 18.5%, adding another 250,100 people to its workforce by 2035.
While the retail trade sector is projected to see a decrease in its share of total employment, it will nonetheless remain one of the nation’s largest employers.
The five industries expected to add the most jobs in Australia over the next decade:
No.
Industry
Projected employment growth rate
No. of new jobs added (employed persons)
1
Healthcare and social assistance
22.9%
541,900
2
Professional, scientific and technical services
10.1%
250,100
3
Construction
11.9%
160,900
4
Education and training
12.4%
157,700
5
Retail trade
6.9%
93,100
The shift towards these specialized, service-based fields is fueling a major rise in demand for highly skilled professionals.
All major occupation groups are projected to increase their employment over the next decade, with the largest growth concentrated among professionals.
Demand for this group is forecast to increase by nearly 850,000 positions. Within this category, the top three occupations by the share of employment in 2035 are projected to be registered nurses, accountants, and software and application programmers.
This trend underscores the future importance of higher education, as the JSA projects that more than half of all new jobs created (54.3%) will require a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification. Reinforcing this is data from the 2024 Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS), which indicates that international students in healthcare-related fields are currently the most successful at securing employment in Australia at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Across Australia, every state and territory is forecast to experience job growth. However, Victoria is expected to lead the nation, rising 15.3% and adding nearly 580,000 new jobs by 2035. New South Wales follows closely, projected to add 576,800 new jobs, with Queensland and Western Australia also forecast to see robust growth of 13.3% and 13.6% respectively.