Health the most popular career choice for young Aussies

Many young people are plannign a career in health. (Source: Getty)

Young people are set to enter the healthcare industry in their droves, with around 24 per cent of Australia’s youth planning to work in health.

Many of the 5000 young people, mostly under 20, surveyed by Skillsroad said the pandemic was behind their decision to pursue a career in health.

“During the pandemic, we’ve seen some of these health sectors ‘up in lights’ which you could call the rock-star effect; seeing high-profile people like Dr Kerry Chant I think attracts people into the industry,” Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter said.

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“The findings may give some hope to the healthcare sector, which has been struggling under the weight of staffing shortages and pandemic burnout,” he added.

The World Health Organization has projected a workforce shortfall of about 18 million health-care workers.

Education and training was the second most popular career choice for young people (12 per cent), followed by professional services, which includes lawyers and architects (11 per cent).

Another 4 per cent were keen to enter the construction industry.

Young people are nervous about the future

It’s been a tough few years for young people due to remote schooling and other pandemic disruptions.

Eight out of 10 respondents reported feeling under prepared due to online learning, with seven out of 10 concerned about their employment prospects.

Despite these concerns, young people are facing a labour market that’s desperate for workers.

Hunter said there’s such a big labour and skills shortage many employers are now willing to provide work experience and other opportunities to help young people skill up.

Employers are 'fighting over' young workers

For those who have already finished university or vocational training, the job market is looking favourable.

Prosple vice president of sales Grant Robson said employers are offering big salaries to attract young graduates.

For example, trading firm Optiver is advertising an entry-level role for $250,000 on Prosple’s GradAustralia job board. He said the major consultancy firms are also promising big salaries for university graduates.

“There's more employers, there's less students, which means that employers are kind of fighting tooth and nail over the graduates,” he said.

Robson said the demand for entry-level workers is strong across most industries, particularly technology.

For many companies looking to hire tech talent, Robson said it’s become cheaper to hire university grads and train them up rather than pay a premium rate for an experienced IT worker.

Robson said the reason companies were finding it so hard to fill entry-level jobs was because less students were graduating than ever before.

This is partly because Covid stopped students from completing their on-the-job learning requirements needed to complete the degree.

Border restrictions also stopped many international students coming to Australia to study, he said, which was contributing to the shortage of young workers.

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