Community and Personal Service Workers on the rise

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MEDIA RELEASE
23 October 2017
128/2017

Community and Personal Service Workers on the rise



Community and Personal Service Workers are on the increase, according to latest figures from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

Seeing a 19 per cent increase between the 2011 Census and 2016, this occupation group includes those who assist health professionals in patient care, aged care, child care, also including education support occupations.

This rise in Community and Personal Service Workers was reflected across the Health Care and Social Assistance industry, which showed the largest growth over the past five years.

Census Program Manager Bindi Kindermann said the latest Census data showed some notable trends in different occupations.

“The Census is a great way to identify changes in our landscape,” Ms Kindermann said.

“Comparing data from 2016 to that from 2011 we can see in the Service Sector there was a 27 per cent increase in fitness instructors, a 25 per cent rise in the number of Beauty Therapists and a 23 per cent increase in Bar Attendants and Baristas.”

The 2016 Census data shows that there are still some noticeable gender differences in the occupations of our workforce – 84 per cent of our Technicians and Trades Workers are male, while 74 per cent of Health Professionals and 63 per cent of Legal, Social and Welfare Professionals are female.

Sales Assistant remained the most common occupation for both men and women, with Truck Drivers, Electricians and Carpenters the other popular occupations for men. For women, other popular occupations were Registered Nurses, General Clerks and Receptionists.

Census data also revealed some fascinating insights into the ages of certain occupations. Persons under the age of 30 were more likely than older age groups to be Fast Food Cooks, Waiters, Sportspeople, Bar attendants and Baristas.

At the other end of the age spectrum, persons over the age of 60 were more likely than younger age groups to be Livestock and Mixed Crop Farmers, Caretakers, and Bus/Coach Drivers.

The largest overall occupation category was Professionals – including areas such as arts, science, business and engineering, which accounted for 21 per cent of the nation’s workforce.

Census data is available free online. Use one of our easy tools such as QuickStats or Community Profiles to access the latest data for your area or topic of interest.


OCCUPATION

Employed persons – by Occupation (1 digit level)
2016
2011
Growth (%)

Professionals
2,370,966
2,145,442
10.5%
Clerical and Administrative Workers
1,449,681
1,483,559
-2.3%
Technicians and Trades Workers
1,447,414
1,425,146
1.6%
Managers
1,390,047
1,293,970
7.4%
Community and Personal Service Workers
1,157,003
971,898
19.0%
Labourers
1,011,520
947,608
6.7%
Sales Workers
1,000,955
942,140
6.2%
Machinery Operators and Drivers
670,106
659,551
1.6%



Largest growth (4 digit level)
2016
2011
Change

Sales Assistants (General)
526,010
456,914
69,096
Child Carers
139,595
107,926
31,669
Aged and Disabled Carers
132,325
108,215
24,110
Chefs
80,723
57,613
23,110
Domestic Cleaners
36,562
15,881
20,681

* Excludes “not further defined” categories and occupations with fewer than 1000 people in 2016


Highest growth per cent (4 digit level)
2016
2011
Growth (%)

Other Sales Support Workers
5,403
2,123
154.5%
Domestic Cleaners
36,562
15,881
130.2%
Enrolled and Mothercraft Nurses
34,229
17,892
91.3%
Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers
27,129
18,333
48.0%
ICT Support and Test Engineers
10,172
7,002
45.3%

* Excludes “not further defined” categories and occupations with fewer than 1000 people in 2016