Health and Community Services Sector Workforce Development project

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The Queensland Government is committed to the long term goals of good, secure jobs and delivering better services across Queensland. Critical to achieving these goals is immediate strategic workforce planning for the health and community services sectors.

By 2024-25 it is projected that these sectors will employ more than 440 800 people including more than 63 000 additional people employed since 2020-21. Hospital, social assistance services and residential care services are predicted to grow by more than 20% by 2024-25.

The challenge now for almost all employers is how to attract, develop and retain a skilled workforce in a tight labour market.

Jobs Queensland, in partnership with peak bodies from the health and community services sectors, aims to create and implement several sector-led workforce development, attraction and retention strategies. This is a multi-year commitment using an action-based project approach to plan, develop and deliver practical workforce solution driven by industry, for industry.

PROJECT STAGES

The Health and Community Services Sector Workforce Development project aims to create and implement sector-led workforce development, attraction and retention strategies.

By partnering with the Health and Community Services sector, Jobs Queensland will deliver action-based projects that support workforce planning and development and deliver practical solutions to workforce challenges.

The project will include an environmental scan to identify existing programs and relevant workforce planning activity across the sectors and a research report to identify existing programs and innovations in Australia and in similar international economies.

This research will produce an evidence base to inform action-based projects that leverage existing activities to develop:

    • Capacity building – more workers
      • Short to medium term strategies to resolve shortages
      • Medium to long term pipeline solutions
    • Capability building – more skilled workers
      • Short to medium term strategies to upskill and reskill
      • Medium to long term pipeline solutions.
    • Place-based planning capacity and capability – increasing distributed strategic and workforce planning and development capability and capacity.

This project is an action in the Queensland Workforce Strategy Action Plan (2022-2025) and is scheduled to be delivered by mid-2025.

OTHER RESOURCES