Work Health, Safety, Environment & Wellbeing Job Market Report

The Safe Step • December 2, 2024

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Australia's work health and safety job market continues to outperform broader employment trends, with demand easing from 2023's record highs but showing a strong uplift across all segments this quarter. The Safe Step's latest HSE Job Market Report reveals what's happening in your industry sector, region and role type. Read on to learn more...

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The Safe Step HSE job opportunities index

Despite stubbornly high inflation driving cost of living concerns, Australian unemployment remains at all-time low levels. This resilient employment landscape extends to the workplace health and safety sector, which has shown strong growth and stability since the post-COVID period.

Moving into 2025, while the broader employment markets and HSE profession start from a solid baseline, several high-profile challenges loom.

For a start, there are potential challenges for the national economy next year due to geopolitical uncertainties. The impact on Australian employment markets if we are caught up in the fallout from an international trade war is hard to predict but one thing is

for certain - it won’t be good.

One of the other major challenges for the Australian economy is lagging productivity growth due to limited business investment. Hopefully, some macro policies and trends such as the energy transition and Government’s ‘Future Made in Australia’ initiative may help offset these risks.

The Safe Step HSE job opportunities index

Health & Safety job opportunities have sustained all-time historical highs since the outbreak of COVID. Like the broader Australian employment market but more intensely, the HSE sector has been operating in rarefied air for some time.

The national trend line on The Safe Step HSE Job Opportunities Index has exceeded 200 for the past two years – a significant jump from the index baseline of 100 in 2015, which has remained relatively stable for some years.

Despite this strength, some softening occurred earlier in 2024, with opportunities sitting 7.3% lower than this time last year. However, permanent HSE opportunities have shown recent resilience, rising 10.0% over the past quarter - a welcome recovery from

previous declines.

Contract roles softened over the last period, but a seasonal uptick is expected at the end of the year as organisations scurry to close-out projects or launch initiatives before 2025.

Work Health, Safety, Environment and Wellbeing Jobs by Region

While New South Wales leads the way in HSE opportunities, Queensland and Victoria deliver similar volumes. Collectively the three eastern states make up 71% of the national Health & Safety job market.

To illustrate the sector’s remarkable growth, advertised HSE opportunities in Victoria and Queensland are now almost triple their 2015 levels when our Index began - underlining why HSE leaders express mounting concerns about the talent pipeline.

Western Australia continues to be a major player despite a subdued period in the later period of 2024, dropping from 14.1% to 13.2% of the national HSE opportunities.

Among the smaller employment markets, the Australian Capital Territory has shown strong growth, rising to 4.1% of total jobs. South Australia and Tasmania remain steady.

Australia's HSE job market by region

Australian Capital Territory: Good news for job seekers. HSE vacancies in the nation’s capital are as high now as they’ve ever been.
New South Wales: After record highs throughout much of 2023, demand softened but remained above average in 2024. A recent 8.9% quarterly uplift brings positive news for HSE jobseekers.
Northern Territory: 2024 began with record-high levels of demand, but job opportunities have since declined. (Caution: the very small number of opportunities offered in the market creates volatility).
Queensland: QLD’s HSE market continues to perform extremely well, with demand hovering at, or near, all-time peak levels.
South Australia: SA makes up just 5.8% of Australia’s HSE job market. Small shifts in hiring patterns can create big fluctuations.
Tasmania: TAS may be a smaller slice of the national HSE job market, but demand is strong and climbing towards record highs albeit off relatively small volumes.
Victoria: HSE job opportunities remain on-par with where they were a year ago. Demand is at historically high levels with the Index around a value of 300. (Note, the Index started in 2015 with a value of 100).
Western Australia: While HSE opportunities have eased in WA from the August 2023 peak, the market remains robust.

Work Health, Safety, Environment and Wellbeing Jobs by Industry

Healthcare and Medical continues to dominate the HSE landscape, now representing almost 29% of all advertised HSE vacancies. This sector shows particular strength, with opportunities up 17.0% annually, reflecting ongoing expansion, investment and corporatisation across Australia.

The Public Sector, traditionally a cornerstone employer for HSE professionals providing over one-fifth of opportunities, has settled at 19% - perhaps reflecting the broader trend of government fiscal restraint.

Professional Services has seen a notable cooling, dropping from 13.8% to 11.2% of national HSE job opportunities this quarter.

Mining’s current 2.3% share of is unusually low for a sector that has historically been a significant employer of HSE talent.

Australia's HSE job opportunities by industry sector

Construction: While HSE opportunities have fallen sharply (-46.9%) from last year’s extraordinary post-pandemic peak, current demand remains more than twice the levels seen when our index began in 2015.
Health & Medical: The health sector continues its strong run, with HSE opportunities up 8.5% this quarter and 17% annually, approaching May’s all-time high.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain: Strong growth of 33.7% this quarter has helped shrink the annual decline to 20.8% - and while it’s been a tough year overall, we’re still seeing historically strong numbers.
Mining: HSE vacancies have plunged 55.5% over twelve months to below average levels, making this one of the hardest-hit sectors. Current opportunities represent less than half of last year’s extraordinary peak.
Professional Services: HSE demand continues to outperform pre-pandemic benchmarks and shows strong 29.8% year-on-year growth, despite easing from its August 2023 peak.
Public Sector: Off the back of record-high demand, HSE opportunities have dipped for the third straight quarter - down 13% from this time last year.
Utilities: Australia’s shift to clean energy is fuelling strong demand for safety professionals in utilities. The sector now generates six times more HSE opportunities than at our Index’s 2015 baseline.

Work Health, Safety, Environment and Wellbeing Jobs by Title

All segments of the HSE job market have grown this quarter (up 6.7%), marking a welcome shift in what’s been a challenging year of adjustment from extraordinary postpandemic highs. In part, this broad-based recovery may reflect the release of FY25 budgets, with employers actioning their July hiring plans.

Executive opportunities have rebounded strongly this quarter (up 20.2%), likely influenced by organisations’ expanding focus on reputational risk, psychosocial safety and broader ESG responsibilities.

Management roles have broken their downward trend, suggesting organisations are rebuilding HSE leadership capacity after a period of constraint.

Advisory positions continue to demonstrate their market stability, weathering recent fluctuations better than any other level. Together with Coordinator roles, they represent 70% of all HSE opportunities, forming the profession’s backbone. Meanwhile, healthy Coordinator-level growth points to sustained investment in emerging HSE talent.