Revealed: Fastest growing and shrinking jobs in Australia

construction workers — Construction workers climb a new building in the Nine Elms area of London, Britain April 11, 2017. Reuters/Neil Hall

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed the fastest growing jobs in Australia for the past year. Recently released data shows that law and accountant-based industries have seen the highest surge among all professions, with 62,000 new jobs recorded.

The data from ABS showed scientific and professional services leading all sectors. Food services and accommodation also had a strong surge of 42,800 jobs, while education reached 42,000.

Even public administration and healthcare have grown to 31,000 and 33,000, respectively. There are now 366,000 more jobs in the healthcare sector compared to 2010. The numbers now make up 14 percent of the workforce at 1.6 million employees. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 construction jobs were created amid the residential boom in New South Wales and Victoria.

"Overall, job gains in the past three months were significant- the largest quarterly gain for over two years,” Commsec economist Craig James said. He added it was the second biggest quarter of job creation in over a decade, and the most recent data should be a further wake-up call to analysts and investors who think the Aussie job market is struggling.

Citibank economist Jane Clapcott said the quarterly data shows the economy is creating mostly jobs that are below average in terms of earnings. She noted that the only exception to this are jobs created in the professional services sector.

But some industries suffered job lost. Farming and retail sectors have been the worst hit, losing almost 30,000 employment roles since May 2016. Huge supermarket chains’ pricing policies have ravaged the farming industry. As a result, opportunities for employment suffer. Australia's farms, fisheries and forests now have 60,000 fewer jobs than there were ten years ago.

Retail is next in the list of fastest shrinking sector, with a loss of 19,500 jobs. Once Australia's largest employing industry, retail still provides jobs for 1.2 million people. Shops in Australia narrowly avoided a worse result after the sector obtained 13,000 workers in the three months to May.

Commonwealth Bank economist Michael Workman said that manufacturing is growing again due to a strong rise in demand for food and beverages. The growth, he said, is also because of higher state government infrastructure spending.

"So while the car industry is being wound down, there are other manufacturing groups that will replace those relatively highly paid jobs,” Sydney Morning Herald quotes him as saying. He further said the demand is being driven by foreigners in the tourism and education sectors, not only locals.

Best jobs in Australia in 2017