Australia will have an extra 100,000 technology jobs in five years time, as the digital sector ramps up its contribution to economic growth.
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But local IT graduates and skilled migrants alone aren't expected to meet the rising demand for technology workers.
The findings have emerged in the Australian Computer Society's annual stocktake of the nation's digital workforce and economy, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics.
The Digital Pulse forecasts Australia will have about 100,000 new IT roles by 2024, bringing the total to about 792,000.
But the nation is likely to struggle to find workers to fill them.
The pipeline of Australian technology workers is improving, with domestic students enrolled in IT degrees increasing by more than 50 per cent since the late 2000s.
There were more than 36,000 enrolments in technology degrees in 2017 and 6000 of them completed in the year.
But the report stresses there is a lead time until IT university graduates hit the ground running.
The number of enrolments in IT subjects in the vocational education and training (VET) sector also fell by 11,875 between 2016 and 2017.
Skilled workers could help businesses meet their technology needs in the short-term, but there were only 9,900 temporary skill visas issued to technology workers in 2017/18.
That was 26 per cent lower than the previous year, with the Digital Pulse citing the replacement of the 457 visa with the Temporary Skill Shortage visa.
"Meeting the voracious demands for more technology workers and increased investments from Australia's businesses will be a huge challenge," ACS president Yohan Ramasundara said.
The increase in technology jobs comes as IT's contribution to economic growth is expected to grow by 40 per cent between 2018 and 2023, largely driven by mobile technology.
That is equivalent to an extra $2500 for every Australian each year.
The report, which will be launched by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Melbourne on Thursday evening, says Australia could maximise its digital economic dividend by prioritising skills development.
That would involve encouraging some people to consider moving to IT from other occupations.
Reducing the gap between tax rates in Australia and other countries could also encourage more digital investment, the report finds.
So too would improving the landscape for start-ups by giving entrepreneurs better access to finance and commercial infrastructure.
The Digital Pulse also recommends greater public and private investment in improving "smart city" infrastructure such as affordable, low-bandwidth wireless networks.
Australian Associated Press
