Australia's population is a diverse and rich multicultural mix

Ask any executive what makes their business successful and chances are they could sum the answer up in two words: our people. So it is in Australia.

Over the past decade Australia has enjoyed a sustained period of strong productivity growth, attributable largely to a highly educated and competitive workforce. Australia’s workforce offers substantial multilingual and cross-cultural capabilities at relatively low cost, and is characterised by a strong work ethic and positive approach to change.

Rising productivity, falling labour costs

Australia’s skilled workforce and investment in business innovation has enabled the country to achieve high levels of productivity, and real unit labour costs have fallen consistently since 2000. Consequently, Australia’s workforce is one of the most competitive workforces in the Asia-Pacific region.

Educated resource pool

The intellectual gene pool of Australia's workforce is constantly replenished by an internationally acclaimed tertiary education sector (ranked ninth in the world by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009), in combination with an immigration policy that is attuned to the needs of industry.

Australia's 41 universities have trained hundreds of thousands of scientists, architects, engineers, financial advisors and other professionals now working in Australia, the US, Europe and Asia. These universities have diverse and rigorous research programs backed by quality facilities. Australia has been ranked equal first in the world for general literacy (Source: Ibid), and on average across all industry sectors, 24 per cent of Australia’s workforce holds a tertiary qualification.

In addition, Australia’s working environment has proven to be highly attractive to skilled workers, ranking third in the world for attracting and retaining talent in a study of 57 key economies. The country was also found to have the fourth most attractive business environment for highly skilled foreign students and has the highest number of foreign tertiary level students per 1,000 inhabitants (Source: Ibid). As a result, Australia’ workforce has continued to grow steadily – in recent times, by more than 200,000 people per year.

Australia’s workforce is also considered to be technology savvy, having the third highest number of Internet users and the seventh highest number of computers per thousand people (Source: Ibid). 

Multilingual workforce

Australia’s citizens originate from more than 200 countries, and the country is home to one of the most multilingual workforces in the Asia-Pacific region, giving it the capacity to offer workforce solutions requiring multilingual and multicultural sensitivities.

Some 5.5 million people living in Australia, representing approximately a quarter of the country’s population, were born overseas, with substantial representation from European, Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Approximately three million Australians – or 25 per cent of the labour force – speak a language other than English at home, with around 400 different languages spoken in homes around the country. Almost 1.2 million Australians are fluent in major European languages, and nearly 1.5 million speaking an Asian language at home (with more than 500,000 speaking a Chinese dialect) (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics – 2006 Census).

Australia’s linguistic diversity, the proficiency with which the languages are spoken, and strong cultural links with Europe and Asia provide an ideal mix for multinational organisations setting up or expanding their business in Australia.