A recently released snapshot of Australia’s agriculture industry has indicated its workforce is growing and getting younger.
The report, by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics Sciences (ABARES), said in 2016, 228,372 people were directly employed in the agriculture industry, representing 2.2 per cent of all employed people in Australia.
The number of people working in the agriculture industry increased by 4.1pc between 2011 and 2016.
The number of Victorian agriculture workers has decreased from 58,378 in 2011 to 54,096 in 2016.
But Victoria remains the second-largest employer of agricultural workers out of all states and territories, behind NSW.
In 2016, 46 per cent of all people working in agriculture were employed in sheep, beef cattle or grain farming, a smaller proportion than in 2011.
In terms of income, in 2016, only 23pc of agricultural employees earned more than $1249 a week, compared to 38 per cent of the Australian workforce.
A greater proportion of agriculture industry employees (73pc) worked full-time, compared with the general Australian workforce (65pc).
Agriculture employees tend to have lower levels of formal education than the general Australian workforce.
In 2016, 45pc of the agricultural workforce had completed year 12 or equivalent, compared with 67pc of the Australian workforce.
The median age of agriculture workers was 49 years, compared to 50 in 2011; this is older than the median age of the general Australian workforce (40 years).
In 2016, 1pc of people directly employed in the agriculture industry identified as Indigenous (3,278 people).
ABARES executive director Dr Steve Hatfield-Dodds said the proportion of under 35 year-olds working in agriculture was on the rise.
“While those working in agriculture are older on average than the general workforce, the proportion of under 35 year-olds has risen over the past five years to 24 per cent in 2016,” Dr Hatfield-Dodds said.
He said the share of women was up very slightly, accounting for 32 per cent of the workforce.
“Women are more likely to be managers, and traditionally provide the lion’s share of off-farm income,” he said.
What do you think? Comment below.