Employment and training snapshot
The Health Care and Social Assistance industry is the largest employing industry in Australia. In 2019 there were close to 1.7 million people employed in this industry, which is projected to increase to more than 1.9 million by 2024.
Occupations related to the HLT – Health Training Package make up around a third of the Health Care and Social Assistance workforce. Aged and Disabled Carers and Nursing Support and Personal Care Workers are the two occupations with the highest proportion of the workforce. Both are expected to experience substantial growth up until 2024; Aged and Disabled Carers by more than 25%. Other occupations within this sector are also projected to grow to varying degrees. For example, Welfare Support Workers are projected to grow by nearly 23%, Health and Welfare Services Managers by roughly 19% and Complementary Health Therapists by about 15%.
Program enrolments in the HLT – Health Training Package have declined from the peak of approximately 107,460 in 2015 to roughly 91,190 in 2018. Program completions have remained relatively stable between 2015 and 2018. In 2018 there 29,520 completions. There has been steady growth in subject only enrolments since 2015, reaching a new high of more than 2.9 million in 2018 (the large majority of which are First Aid-related).