These Are the Jobs That Have Dropped in Demand in Australia

As technology has advanced further, it has meant radical changes in the workforce, with certain jobs becoming more popular, some automated and others eradicated entirely. SEEK’s recent 25-year trends report highlights a number of interesting things about the work industry but one thing in particular that it points out are the jobs that have declined in popularity over the past 25 years.

SEEK’s report highlights four examples of jobs that have dipped in demand on its site between 1998 and 2022, those being:

• Secretary: down by 71.3%
• Sewing Machinists: down by 76.9%
• Bank workers: down by 57%
• Keyboard operator: down by 55.4%

Given the extent to which both technology and society have changed over the past 25 years, it’s not difficult to see why these jobs are the least in demand today. For example, a lot of banking is done online or via an ATM nowadays and new software has minimised the need for manual data entry.

As SEEK’s report points out, many time-intensive repetitive tasks have been automated by technology, allowing workers to focus on more creative and relationship-focused roles – ie. things that a machine cannot do. At least not yet.

While technology has meant the end of some roles in the workforce, it’s expected that an additional 1.2 million tech jobs will be created by 2034, so there is hope on the horizon.

“25 years ago, there was a lot of speculation about technology taking and replacing jobs. A quarter of a century on we see that technology has the ability to enhance the way we work and rather than replacing us, frees us up to focus on the more human elements of our roles,” said Lisa Tobin, Managing Director Technology at SEEK.

On the flip side of that, some of the roles that have seen an increase over the past couple of decades are:

• General manager: up 746.4%
• HR Manager: up 732%
• Aged and disabled carers: up 338.2%
• Registered nurse: up 85.2%

This tracks with a report from last year that outlined the jobs most in need of new staff in Australia and included roles in industries like nursing, aged and disability support and retail & hospitality.

For some other takeaways from SEEK’s report, check out our round-up here.