The number of people working in the IT industry in Australia has surged by 20 per cent in five years.
This is according to the analysis of the Information Technology Professionals Association (ITPA) on the Census 2016 data.
IPTA compared last year’s data to previous years’ Census and concluded that IT employment has grown by 45 per cent over the 10 years from 2006 to 2016.
“In 2006, 184,041 Census respondents indicated they worked in the IT industry. That figure grew to 222,644 in 2011 and reached 266,631 in the 2016 data,” IPTA said.
There has been significant growth in ICT Security Specialist roles, up by 50 per cent from 2011-16, as well as ICT Managers, which grew by 109 per cent and ICT Project Managers that showed a 94 per cent increase.
According to ITPA president, Robert Hudson, it is no great surprise that there has been significant growth and upheaval in the 2016 Census data for IT professionals.
“Our industry has had a massive impact on the world in the last 10 years and it is changing almost daily, so it is only natural that this transformation is reflected in jobs data,” Hudson said. “From the ABS data we can see that there are jobs being created in areas such as cyber security, managers of IT environments and in managing IT projects.
“Organisations of all shapes, industries and sizes are prioritising investment in technology that is in alignment with their business objectives. The IT professionals they employ are more critical than ever to enabling business success and efficient, quality service delivery.
He also noted the relation between the growth in security professionals’ demand and the industry.
“Growth in security and IT management are indicators of both the growing importance and complexity of the IT function. IT professionals have quickly graduated from being a mere provider of support systems to being critical to competitive advantage and risk management,” Hudson said.
