By 2030, Australia is expected to need 3.5 million finance, technology, and business professionals — almost 450,000 more than today.
A new report by the Future Skills Organisation called Workforce Plan 2025: Pathways to Impact reinforces the urgent need to embed digital skills across the economy and deliver flexible, responsive training pathways to meet future workforce demands.
But reaching this potential won’t happen without focused effort. The report finds that Australia’s current approach is unlikely to meet future demand, with a projected shortfall of almost 250,000 workers by 2030.
Technology jobs account for more than half of this gap (131,000 workers), followed by finance (64,000) and business (48,000).
To close the gap and unlock this opportunity, Australia must act across multiple fronts. As digital skills become essential across all industries, there is a growing need to strengthen both generalist and specialist capabilities, particularly in critical areas such as cyber security, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and software development to future-proof the workforce.
At the same time, learning pathways need to become faster, clearer and more flexible to better connect education and training with industry needs.
The report also calls for greater focus on reskilling and upskilling, especially for mid-career Australians who are ready to transition into future-focused roles. At a system level, declining completions in higher education and vocational training must be reversed, and we must focus on reducing attrition across both training and employment to retain talent.
Migration will also play an important role, with around one in four finance, tech, and business professionals currently holding a visa.
“Emerging technologies are reshaping the nature of work across Australia’s finance, technology, and business sectors,” said Future Skills Organisation CEO Patrick Kidd. “Digital capability and AI literacy are now fundamental across all industries. Our education and training system must keep pace to ensure more Australians are equipped with the skills they need to thrive.
“We must deepen partnerships between industry and training providers and invest in skills solutions which can be delivered at scale to benefit learners and employers,” he added.
Industry and union leaders have echoed these findings, warning that without urgent action, Australia risks falling behind.
“Future Skills Organisation’s Workforce Plan highlights the urgent need to tackle Australia’s workforce shortfall head-on,” said Australian Council of Trade Unions Assistant Secretary Liam O’Brien. “A projected shortfall of almost 250,000 skilled finance, tech and business workers by 2030 is a clear call to action.
“High staff turnover is a challenge and should drive a focus on improving retention across industries,” he continued. “It’s an opportunity to lift job quality, build stronger career pathways, and align training more closely with workers’ needs. Closing the skills gap means investing in people, ensuring every worker has the opportunity to grow, adapt, and thrive in a changing economy.”
To tackle these challenges, the report highlights four strategic priorities:
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Strengthening skills-based pathways;
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Embedding digital capability at every level;
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Enabling learner-centred education; and
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Positioning diversity as a deliberate strategy for building talent pipelines.
The publicly accessible FSO Workforce Dashboards provide a detailed breakdown of the data and should be read in conjunction with the Workforce Plan. They are designed to support educators, employers, and policymakers in planning for the future.
