The Workforce Development and Skills Survey is conducted by Ai Group’s Centre for Education and Training every two years, allowing for analysis of changes and trends over time.

The intelligence and insights gathered from this highly valuable survey underpin the Centre’s research, policy and advocacy agenda.

The 2022 Skills and Workforce Development Survey received 342 individual responses from representatives of a wide range of Australian companies. Together, these companies employ a total of 213,890 FTE employees. Responses covered a wide range of industry sectors and a range of small, medium and large enterprises.

Labour and skills shortages are a given for many Australian companies right now, so we delved deeper, to see where skill needs and challenges are most acute.

We asked businesses if their requirements for skills had increased, and if they were having difficulties meeting these needs. The results show a widespread increase in businesses’ requirements for skilled labour across all occupational groups – in particular, Technicians and Trades Workers, Professionals and Managers.