THERE ARE 7 NEW JOB CLUSTERS

2. IN AUSTRALIA

The job switching and leapfrogging that we

observe in today’s workforce is not random:
individuals move between roles that are
related and which build on our prior skills and ‘The Artisans’

in the way that young people are encouraged ‘The Designers’

to think about their working lives. Instead,
we ask young people to visualise their ‘dream ‘The Generators’

job’ and pick an often narrow training option.

Rather than making study and work decisions
based on a narrow concept of a lifelong
occupation, we could encourage young people
to think about the broader direction of work ‘The Informers’
type they want to perform and to build a
‘The Coordinators’
portfolio of skills that give them a wide range ‘The Technologists’
of options.

In choosing a career, a young person could

but about the cluster of roles that it might

open up. There are 7 job clusters in Australia’s
workforce (Exhibit 2), namely ‘The Generators’,
‘The Artisans’, ‘The Carers’, ‘The Coordinators’,
‘The Carers’
‘The Designers’, ‘The Informers’ and ‘The
Technologists’.

11
Carnevale et al “Understanding online job ads data” (April 2014) Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce
12
These skills have been selected from a list of 160 enterprise skills that were analysed. A longer list is provided in the Appendix.

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Exhibit 2: There are 7 job clusters in the Australian economy, based on skills
demanded by employers
These job clusters each currently comprise a variety of occupations, ranging from 10 up to 140 occupations depending on
the particular cluster.12

Comprises jobs that... Occupations currently in this job cluster

...require a high level of Total: 65

interpersonal interaction Includes: sales representatives, retail supervisors, cafe managers, hotel
in retail, sales, hospitality managers, bank managers, entertainers, interpreters and airline ground crew.
and entertainment.
Industries closely linked with this job cluster include: Tourism, Retail
‘The Generators’ & Wholesale Trade, Accommodation & Food Services, and Arts & Recreation
Services.

...require skill in Total: 118

manual tasks related to Includes: machinery operators, landscape gardeners, electricians, crop &
construction, production, livestock farm workers, plumbers, and carpenters.
‘The Artisans’ maintenance or technical
Industries closely linked with this job cluster include: Construction,
customer service.
Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, Utilities and Logistics.

...seek to improve the Total: 131

mental or physical health
Includes
or well-being of others,
counsellors and beauty therapists.
including medical, care
and personal support Industries closely linked with this job cluster include: Health Care &
‘The Carers’ Social Assistance
services.

...involve repetitive Total: 59

administrative and Includes: bookkeepers, printers, fast food cooks, bus drivers, furniture
behind-the-scenes removalists, law clerks, receptionists and car park attendants.
‘The process or service tasks
Coordinators’ Industries closely linked with this job cluster include: Administrative
Services and Logistics.

...involve deploying skills Total: 70

and knowledge of science, Includes: architects, electrical engineers, clothing patternmakers, food
mathematics and design technologists, building inspectors, product testers, industrial engineers,
to construct or engineer geologists and draftspersons.
‘The Designers’
products or buildings.
Industries closely linked with this job cluster include: Architectural,
Engineering & Technical Services.

...involve professionals Total: 142

providing information, Includes: primary and secondary school teachers, economists, intelligence
education or business
services museum curators, and HR advisers.
‘The Informers’ Industries closely linked with this job cluster include: Professional,

...require skilled Total: 10

understanding and Includes: programmers, software engineers, database administrators, web
manipulation of digital designers and ICT business analysts.
technology.
Industries closely linked with this job cluster include: Computer System
‘The Technologists’
Design & Related Services and Information Media & Telecommunication
Services.

12
Occupations are reported at the 6-digit level, which is the most granular level of occupations. There are >1000 occupations in the current

*
The Technologists comprises occupations that require a high level of skill in building and manipulating digital technology. The high intensity
of the technical skills requested in this job cluster occurs in only a small number of occupations.

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What does this strong relationship between jobs mean for Young people can use jobs (Section 2) and skills most
a young person? Given the overlap in skills demanded by commonly requested in a job cluster (Section 3) to help
employers, a young person could think about the cluster
of work they want to move within rather than which of and strengths.
the economy’s 1000+ jobs they want.

When making this decision, a young person can consider

2.2 Gaining early-career
experience in a job cluster
and test this view by gaining work experience through early-

gain crucial experience early in their careers through

2.1 Finding a job cluster that young people (Exhibit 3). The skills gained in this work
best matches a young person’s experience can be used to lay good foundations in the
core skills requested in a job cluster and help to expose
interests and strengths young people to other potential roles that might be of
interest to them. Rather than seeking casual or part-
time work in retail or hospitality, for example, a young
best match their interests and strengths. Usefully, each
person who is considering their options could test their
of the 7 clusters of work comprise a list of jobs and skills
interest and build some of the core skills required in a job
that employers value most. For example, ‘The Informers’
cluster through an early-career role in that cluster (See
job cluster comprises jobs that involve tertiary-educated
case study: An example of early-career experience in a
professionals providing information, education or
job cluster…) Young people can either remain in these
business services. The 142 jobs in this job cluster include
roles or add the additional skills required to progress to
accountants, policy analysts, solicitors and HR advisers.
The skills most commonly requested by employers There are a number of early-career experiences that
employers commonly make available to young people13
risk management and policy development, as well as skills across each of the job clusters, which help young people
related to teaching and curriculum development. to get their ‘break’ in the job cluster and pick up valuable
cross-cutting skills early in their working lives:

Exhibit 3: Example early career occupations in each job cluster

‘The Generators’: Young people often gain ‘The Designers’: Young people typically
early career experience in this job cluster often gain early career experience in this job
through roles like sales assistant, autoglazier, cluster through roles such as civil engineering
telemarketer, retail supervisor, kitchenhand, draftsperson, quantity surveyor, metallurgist,
industrial designer, structural engineer, and civil
engineer.
‘The Artisans’: Young people often gain early
career experience in this job cluster through
roles such as carpenter, roof tiler, mining ‘The Informers’: Young people often gain
support worker, drainer, electrician, plumber, early career experience in this job cluster
air-conditioning & refrigeration mechanic, and through jobs like recruitment consultant,
motor mechanic. event organiser, bank worker, PR professional,
‘The Carers’: Young people often gain early statistical clerk, marketing specialist, private
career experience in this job cluster through tutor, and multimedia designer.
roles such as dental assistant, childcare worker,
‘The Technologists’: Young people often
instructor. gain early career experience in this job cluster
through roles like web developer, web designer
‘The Coordinators’: Young people often gain and web administrator.
early career experience in this job cluster
Understanding the types of jobs that employers
cashier, service station attendant, and fast food
cook.
people gain valuable early career experience, which
will enable them to pick up some of the core skills
required to move within a job cluster.

13

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An example of early-career experience in a job cluster...
Isabelle is taking a gap year and is thinking about what become comfortable with personal hygiene. She also
to do next. She is interested in a job within ‘The Carers’ builds a number of the relevant enterprise skills that
are most commonly demanded in ‘The Carers’ cluster of
enrolls in a health sciences study program and decides work such as communication, training, customer service,
to gain some work experience as an assistant at the team work and time management skills. Isabelle doesn’t
local dental surgery, and quits her casual waitressing want to remain in the dental profession but uses these
job. This role exposes her to the medical industry, gains experiences to gain skills and references that help her
her valuable skills in patient care and requires her to eventually take a role as a speech pathologist.

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