Demand for digital expertise in Australian workforce doubles in 3 years: study

A national survey has found the Australian workforce's demand for digital literacy skills has more than doubled in just three years, illustrating how the rise of the computer age has impacted employment.

The Foundation for Young Australians, a non-profit youth organization based in Melbourne, analyzed 4.2 million junior or entry-level job positions advertised from 2012 to 2015.

They found that there was a 212 percent increase in Australian employers seeking individuals with high-level digital literacy, the ability to use information technology (IT) and the internet to find, evaluate, utilize, share and create digital content.

The Australian youth group described these talents as "enterprise" skills.

Jane Owen, the foundation's chief executive office, said the study was important as it showed employers increasingly favored those equipped with computer knowledge over those without.

"For the first time we've got data that shows what employers are looking for from the next generation of young people," Owen told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.

"Across almost every profession, no matter what it was and no matter what the technical skill was, employers were privileging these skills.

The latest research, however, suggests young Australians may not be entirely prepared to enter the new digitalized workforce by the time they leave school.

As per a worldwide survey by the Program for International Student Assessment in 2012, one quarter of pupils under the age of 15 did not have adequate so-called enterprise skills.

Owen said the data confirmed the Australian and state governments needed to do more work to speed-up IT training in secondary schools, engraining these core skills into the "DNA of every single student".

"I guess what this report says is that the new work order is here," Owen said.

"We fully expected that we were in transition and there's much conversation about the future of work around the world.

"But this report absolutely clearly says that we're here, and more importantly gives us a clear mandate to accelerate the teaching of these skills and to understand that they're being privileged in the workplace." Endit