Health Care and Social Assistance

EMPLOYED

2,359,700

PART-TIME SHARE

43%

WORKFORCE SHARE

16.1%

FEMALE SHARE

75%

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS

$1,620

MEDIAN AGE

40

Health Care and Social Assistance is the largest employing industry. Around 16.1% of workers have their main job in this industry.

This industry covers services like:

  • hospitals
  • general and specialist medical services
  • pathology and diagnostic imaging services
  • dental and allied health care
  • ambulance services
  • child care
  • aged and residential care.

Median earnings are $1,620 per week, lower than all industries median earnings of $1,700.

On this page

    Employment

    Employment in the Health Care and Social Assistance industry grew over the 20 years to February 2025.
    The number of workers grew by 115,200 (or 5.1%) over the last year.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, May 2025, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: Over the COVID-19 pandemic period (highlighted section in the chart above), some industries have censored values, resulting in a broken series for impacted industries. This is due to large quarterly fluctuations in employment resulting in trend data being unreliable for these quarters. Where data are available over the COVID-19 pandemic period, JSA recommends caution when using these trend estimates.
    Quarterly employment, Health Care and Social Assistance Employment
    987300
    1000100
    1013800
    1028100
    1040400
    1049100
    1055800
    1062000
    1068400
    1074800
    1082500
    1091100
    1100700
    1113300
    1130800
    1151600
    1171300
    1186700
    1197900
    1210200
    1225500
    1243100
    1260000
    1275000
    1289500
    1305100
    1319900
    1332000
    1342400
    1352200
    1360800
    1367900
    1373000
    1377400
    1382400
    1386600
    1391800
    1401900
    1419800
    1445400
    1472900
    1498000
    1517100
    1530100
    1540200
    1548900
    1561800
    1581600
    1608600
    1634400
    1653700
    1666700
    1674400
    1680100
    1686300
    1694700
    1706800
    1722700
    1737000
    1746000
    1750900
    1759300
    1773300
    1797000
    1830300
    1871500
    1918700
    1968200
    2012500
    2050900
    2085300
    2117600
    2147200
    2174300
    2200700
    2223600
    2244400
    2265300
    2291800
    2325100
    2359700

    Sectors

    Hospitals is the largest sector in the Health Care and Social Assistance industry, employing 616,600 workers.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, May 2025, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: the sum of sectoral employment may not equal the industry total as data are trended separately, and not further defined (nfd) classifications have been excluded.
    Employment by industry sectors Employment
    Hospitals 616600
    Other Social Assistance Services 528000
    Allied Health Services 331400
    Residential Care Services 289000
    Medical Services 236900
    Child Care Services 180900
    Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Services 68500
    Other Health Care Services 62400

    Occupations

    Registered Nurses is the largest employing occupation in the Health Care and Social Assistance industry.

    The 10 largest employing occupations are shown below.

    Some occupations are common across a number of industries.

    Largest employing occupations

    Source: Ranked using ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2024, four-quarter average data, customised report.
    ANZSCO CodeOccupation title
    2544Registered Nurses
    4231Aged and Disabled Carers
    4211Child Carers
    4233Nursing Support and Personal Care Workers
    5421Receptionists
    2531General Practitioners and Resident Medical Officers
    4117Welfare Support Workers
    2525Physiotherapists
    2723Psychologists and Psychotherapists
    5311General Clerks

    Industry data

    This file contains data for all 19 industries to make comparing industry data easy. Information available includes:

    • industry overview
    • industry employment (20-year time series)
    • industry sector employment
    • top employing occupations by industry.

     

    Industry data - May 2025.xlsx

    industry_data_-_may_2025.xlsx118390

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