Labour force - health

Overview of health services workforce

The health services workforce in Australia is large and diverse, covering many occupations, ranging from highly qualified professionals to support staff and volunteers. Health occupations comprise professionals who diagnose and treat physical and mental illnesses and conditions or recommend, administer, dispense and develop medications and treatment to promote or restore good health.

Over the last four decades the health services workforce has increased at a much faster rate than population growth, and this growth has been maintained over recent years: between the 1996 and 2001 censuses, the number of people working in health occupations increased by 11.4%, compared with an 8.7% increase in the total civilian workforce.

Increases have been primarily in part-time employment, which represented 42.9% of employment in 2001, up from 41.3% in 1996.

Labour force data is collected periodically for a range of health occupations by State and Territory registration boards in conjunction with renewal of registration. Data are processed by State health authorities and sent to the AIHW for collation into a national dataset. Currently medical practitioners are surveyed annually, and nurses every two years. There is a three-year collection cycle for pharmacists, podiatrists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and psychologists. Data on optometrists is available annually from Medicare records.

Statistics & trends

In 2001, 558,000 people were employed in health industries (excluding veterinary services), comprising 7% of the total civilian workforce in Australia (ABS Census of Population and Housing).

Social and economic trends have major impacts on labour forces of any industry and consequently there have been shifts in the health labour force in the last four decades. These include:

Females entering the workforce

One of the major changes in the health workforce is the increasing female participation in health.

• In 2001, females comprised 74% of people in health occupations.
• The proportion of doctors who are female has increased from 11% in 1961 to 32% in 2001 (ABS Censuses of Population and Housing).

Part-time employment

Another major change has been an increase in part-time workers in the health labour force. This is associated with an increase in the number of females in the industry.

• In 2001, 39% of people in health occupations worked under 35 hours per week, compared with 33% of the total workforce.
• 46% of females in health occupations worked less than 35 hours per week, compared with 16% of males. 
• 89% of part-time health employees in 2000 were female.
• Females comprised 74% of people in health occupations - much higher than the percentage of females in the employed workforce (45%) (ABS Census of Population and Housing 2001).

Geographic distribution

The current distribution of the health workforce across Australia does not match the population distribution. Moreover, the geographic distribution of health workers in different occupations is varied. For example, the numbers of medical practitioners per 100,000 population, and most health professionals except nurses, are higher in capital cities than in other areas. These issues have an impact on the provision of health services and the way they are delivered to people in rural and remote areas.

Persons employed in health occupations: capital city and other regions, Australia, 2001

Occupation	Persons employed			Employed persons per 100,000 population
	Capital city	Other region	Total	Capital city	Other region	Total
Medical workers	37,336	13,715	51,051	312	202	272
Medical imaging workers	5,737	2,277	8,014	48	33	43
Dental workers	17,989	7,364	25,353	150	108	135
Nursing workers	149,105	89,635	238,740	1,246	1,318	1,272
Director of nursing	1,648	1,002	2,650	14	15	14
Registered nurses	108,402	59,445	167,847	906	874	894
Enrolled nurses	8,906	10,282	19,188	74	151	102
Nursing assistants/personal carers	30,149	18,906	49,055	252	278	261
Pharmacists	9,959	3,734	13,693	83	55	73
Allied health workers	27,867	10,999	38,866	233	162	207
Complementary therapies	5,430	2,875	8,305	45	42	44
Other health workers	38,696	19,000	57,696	323	279	307
Total health workers	292,119	149,599	441,718	2,441	2,200	2,353

Go to more AIHW information on Rural Health

Go to more AIHW information on Indigenous Expenditure

Publications

The principal data source for broad information about health and community services occupations is the five-yearly national census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Information based on this source is published in the AIHW publication Health and Community Services labour force 1996 and Health and Community Services labour force, 2001.

Further health labour force information is shown in Chapter 5.4 of Australia's Health 2004.

More detailed information on specific health occupations, based on various AIHW health labour force surveys, can be found on the publications page.