The healthcare & social assistance industry comprises:
“Social assistance” services include aged care, disability support, veterans’ care and childcare provided outside the medical or residential care context.
Healthcare & social assistance employs over 17% of the workforce and is Australia’s fastest growing industry.
The demand for care services is being driven by two factors: demographics and government funding support.
As the population grows and ages, demand for care services like aged care, disability support, and early childhood education will continue to rise.
Healthcare & social assistance employs a diverse range of professionals and support workers, including:
This report provides a broad overview of the industry’s size, structure and performance. It is designed to help businesses, policymakers and stakeholders understand how the sector is evolving, the economic and workforce pressures it faces, and the implications for investment, productivity and long‑term sustainability. It supports informed decision‑making at a time when the care industry is playing an increasingly critical role in Australia’s economy.
This report is optimised to view on a larger screen, please view it on a desktop browser.
Jeffrey Wilson is Head of Research and Economics at Australian Industry Group.
He leads our economics team and provides strategic direction in developing the research program to support our advocacy, service delivery and policy activities.
Dr Wilson specialises in international economic policy, with a focus on how trade and investment shape the Australian business environment.
Colleen Dowling is the Research Manager at Australian Industry Group, where she delivers the organisation’s proprietary research program, providing a strong data-driven evidence base for advocacy, strategy and policy development.
With more than a decade of experience in industry-focused research, Colleen has worked across the wholesale, retail and tertiary education sectors, giving her a broad and practical understanding of the business landscape. Her work plays a key role in identifying the challenges and opportunities facing Australian businesses.
Colleen holds a Master of Business Management and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University.
Jeenat Jabbar is an economist in the Research and Economics team at Australian Industry Group. Her work focuses on delivering robust quantitative analysis across a range of data sources to inform strategic decision-making and policy development.
Dr Jabbar’s research interests include labour market dynamics, migration and wellbeing, with a particular emphasis on the economic contributions of migrants in Australia.
She holds a PhD in Economics from RMIT University, a Master of Business Informatics from Ural Federal University, Russia, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Asian University, Bangladesh.
