The five jobs about to boom

As Australia's economy transitions from resources to service-based industries, everyone wants to know where the jobs will come from.

Market research firm IBISWorld has identified clothing retailing, physiotherapy services, meat processing, oil and gas extraction and private and government schools as the five industries set to show the fastest employment growth in 2015-16 and over the next five years.

Growing wages and demand for skilled employees will provide “solid opportunities” for employment between now and 2020, and demand for professionals with advanced degrees is expected to rise, IBISWorld argues in a report today.

“The demand in these industries, whether it’s for the product or the service they provide, looks set to continue at least over the next five years, so it’s not a one-off spike,” IBISWorld industry analyst Spencer Little told news.com.au

“We looked at the Australian industries that are growing both in terms of revenue but more importantly in employment numbers.”

Mr Little said the growth in knowledge and service industries and trend for upskilling would only continue over the longer term. “We’re moving away from a mining-based economy and even back over the last decade or two from a manufacturing hub to these service-based industries,” he said.

CLOTHING RETAILING

IBISWorld predicts the typically labour-intensive industry will increase its reliance on casual workers over the next five years as new technologies improve productivity, reducing the need for staff to complete manual tasks such as stocking shelves, serving customers and managing inventory.

While online stores may increase competition, analysts predict the traditional stores will attempt to differentiate themselves by offering superior customer service by putting on more staff. Employment is expected to grow in the industry by 6.4 per cent in 2015-16, according to IBISWorld.

“As state governments gradually deregulate trading hours [over the next five years] ... this will allow shops to stay open longer, requiring more staff and boosting employee numbers,” the report says.

PHYSIOTHERAPY SERVICES

IBISWorld is forecasting the physiotherapy services industry to grow by 2.3 per cent in 2015-16, and continue to grow at an annualised rate of 2.5 per cent over the five years through to 2020-21 to reach over 23,000 staff.

This will largely be driven by demand growth. More patients are able to access physiotherapy services through their private health insurance, and as the population ages, older Australians are more likely to require physiotherapy services.

“These factors are providing opportunities for new establishments to open, which will require new employees,” the report says. “Combined with physiotherapy positions in hospitals, these new establishments will offer graduate physiotherapists reasonably strong employment prospects.”

MEAT PROCESSING

Free trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea are expected to greatly increase demand for Australian beef over the next five years, further increasing revenue from the industry already forecast to grow at an annualised rate of 8.4 per cent over the five years to 2015-16.

Employment in the sector is expected to grow at an annualised rate of 2.9 per cent over the period to 2020-21, as operators expand production to meet the growing demand from our Asian neighbours.

While some automation has reduced the number of employees per establishment over the last five years, IBISWorld predicts overall employment growth will continue strongly as the FTAs support export growth.

OIL AND GAS EXTRACTION

“Australia is rich in coal seam gas, shale gas and shale oil, and the oil and gas extraction industry is expected to provide strong opportunities for employment over the next five years,” the report argues.

Industry revenue is forecast to grow at an annualised rate of 10.2 per cent over the next five years to reach $66.8 billion, and jobs are expected to follow during that period to exceed 27,500 employees in 2020-21.

Employment in the oil and gas extraction industry is expected to grow by 4.9 per cent in the current year, and total output in the industry is forecast to reach 514 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2015-16, a 16.6 per cent increase over the previous year.

PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

A combination of rising private school enrolment levels, demands from teachers unions to increase salaries and the introduction of mandatory year 10 requirements in 2010 have boosted employment prospects in the schools sector.

Over the past five years, enrolment in non-government schools has grown at a faster-rate than public schools, boosting revenue from tuition fees. In an attempt to compete with state schools, private schools are boosting staff-to-student ratios.

IBISWorld argues that although staff-to-student ratios in public schools have fallen slightly over the past five years, increased funding could potentially boost employment during the period to 2020-21.

Read the full article here - http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/the-five-jobs-about-to-boom/news-story/6453cde81b326dd0f8dba640caed5978