Roles in the ICT industry continue to grow in New Zealand, with Kiwi workers in the tech space expected to command higher salaries as the need for talent increases.
That’s according to the 2015 Occupation Outlook report, released yesterday, which reports that the country is “quickly developing a move highly-skilled economy.”
Bringing together the latest information from employers, industries, the education sector and labour market analysts to summarise job demand, likely income levels, and training requirements for each of the 50 different career options, the report was released by Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce.
Grouped into the manufacturing industry, job prospects in the ICT sector remain strong as “new, highly-innovative industries” emerge in areas ranging from pharmaceuticals to telecommunications, from medical devices to watercraft.
According to the report, New Zealand’s high and medium-technology manufacturing industries remain a “small part of our economy, but are growing rapidly.”
High-tech manufacturing includes pharmaceuticals, aircraft manufacturing, professional and scientific equipment manufacturing and computer and electronic manufacturing, accounting for 0.7 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP and 3 per cent of total exports.
Medium-high tech manufacturing products range from domestic appliances to milking machines, from insecticides to motor vehicle parts, accounting for 1.4 per cent of our GDP and 6 per cent of total exports.
The Government has targeted these sectors for growth, as part of its target to increase exports to 40 per cent of GDP by 2025.
New Zealand’s traditional manufacturing sector, with its focus on primary processing (such as dairy manufacturing), will remain important as well, and more information on these industries is given in the chapter on career prospects in the primary industry.
MBIE forecasts that employment in the primary processing will grow at 1.3 per cent per year between 2013 and 2018, and other manufacturing will grow by 2.6 per cent, compared to total employment growth of 2.1 per cent.