The number of people working in the telecommunications sector has declined for the fifth consecutive year.
According to the annual report from the Bureau of Industry and Security, telecommunications engineers in Australia contracted by about 14,000 in 2015, while the number of companies offering jobs in the sector grew by just 2,500.
The Bureau said that the trend continued in 2016, with the number contracting by 4,000 compared to 2,400 the year before.
The bureau said that its analysis of industry reports shows that a third of all jobs in telecommunications are in industries that are experiencing a decline in the number or size of employees.
“In industries that have experienced declines in their employment levels, there has been a substantial reduction in the amount of people employed by the same organisation,” it said.
“These results are indicative of the continuing economic downturn affecting the telecommunications industry.”
The trend has been particularly pronounced in the technology sector, with employment growth of the technology engineering sector dropping by 14,800 over the past year.
“The Bureau has previously estimated that the total number of telecommunications workers in Australia fell by 25 per cent between 2011 and 2015, which was a period when the federal government was seeking to bring down the number in the telecoms sector.
The telecommunications sector is an industry that provides services to almost 70 per cent of Australia’s population.
It employs about 50,000 people, and employs nearly half of all Australians.
Topics:economy,employment,technology-and-technology,industry,workers,australiaFirst posted March 20, 2020 13:59:36Contact Kate Cairns
