Skills in demand within the industry are changing, with nursing and patient care the most in-demand industry-specific skill.
Industry-specific skill demand
The most in-demand skills are nursing and patient care, general medicine, and health care procedure and regulation. Communication, initiative and leadership, and personal attributes (e.g. right attitude/mindset) are also important, with over 70 per cent of job advertisements within the industry mentioning one or more of these skills.
Most mentioned industry-specific skills in 2024 as a share of job advertisements
Industry-specific skill | Share of job ads |
|---|---|
Nursing and patient care | 23.1% |
General medicine | 19.4% |
Health care procedure and | 17.0% |
Emergency and intensive | 11.2% |
Community and social work | 10.9% |
Home health care and | 7.6% |
Patient education and | 6.9% |
Physical therapy | 6.5% |
General medical tests and | 6.0% |
Obstetrics and | 5.0% |
Growing skills mentions within the industry
Skills increasingly being mentioned in job advertisements within the health care and social assistance industry are occupational health and safety, food and beverage, and infectious diseases.
Note: these exclude industry-specific skills already identified as being in high demand.
Growing skills as a percentage point difference in job advertisement mentions from 2019 to 2024
Industry-specific skill | Percentage of job ad mentions in 2019 | Percentage of job ad mentions in 2024 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Occupational health and safety | 1.4% | 7.7% | 6.3% |
Food and beverage | 2.4% | 4.5% | 2.1% |
Infectious diseases | 2.4% | 4.3% | 1.9% |
Health information management and medical records | 2.9% | 4.5% | 1.6% |
Recruitment | 0.1% | 1.7% | 1.6% |
Process improvement and optimisation | 2.8% | 4.3% | 1.5% |
Health care administration | 5.1% | 6.5% | 1.4% |
Scheduling | 0.5% | 1.9% | 1.4% |
Billing and invoicing | 1.7% | 3.1% | 1.4% |
Administrative support and clerical tasks | 6.8% | 7.8% | 1.0% |
Updated