Aussies eager for fitness, beauty jobs

The latest data from the 2016 census shows a jobs boom in the fitness and beauty industries, while the number of hours we're working has dipped.

Fitness instructors, beauty therapists and baristas have become the hottest jobs in Australia, but our working week has been trimmed a bit and we still don't really like taking public transport to get to the office.

They're the major findings from the latest data released from the 2016 census, which also found Aussies are better qualified than ever before.

Perhaps spurred by the popularity of the #fitspo and #beautytips social media culture, there's been a 27 per cent leap in fitness instructors and a 25 per cent rise in beauty therapists since 2011.

The number of baristas and bar attendants has also jumped by nearly a fifth.

Their boom in popularity is part of a broader rise in the number of personal service and community workers, whose jobs also include patient care, aged care, child care.

The health care and social assistance industry remains the biggest employer across the country, followed by retail trade, with sales assistant the most common occupation.

However our average working week is now 34.6 hours, down from 35.1 hours in 2011.

Women are working an average 30 hours in paid employment, while for men it's 39 hours.

But the numbers tell a different tale for work at home.

In 2016, over half of employed men did no or fewer than five hours per week of unpaid domestic work (60 per cent) compared with a third of employed women (36 per cent).

Women in full-time work were also twice as likely to do at least 15 hours of domestic work.

The data also showed that Australians are upskilling like never before as they gain post-school qualifications in record numbers.

More than half the population aged 15 and over now holds a post-school qualification, up from 46 per cent in 2006.

Close to a quarter of people have completed a bachelor degree or above.

"Those who go on to study at university aren't necessarily stopping with just a bachelor degree, with more people than ever achieving postgraduate qualifications," Australian Bureau of Statistics' census program manager Bindi Kindermann said.

The most common occupations for men with a bachelor degree or above were accountants and software programmers, while women were more likely to be nurses or primary school teachers.

When it comes to getting to work, most Australians still prefer to drive than take public transport.

More than two thirds of people drive to work (6.5 million), while nine per cent solely rely on public transport, much the same as in 2011.


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Source: AAP


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