Australia’s Labour Force Survey reports how many women and men work in occupations each year.
The Australian Government is now operating in line with Caretaker Conventions, pending the outcome of the 2025 federal election.
STEM-qualified occupations
Compare the number of women and men working in STEM occupations, non-STEM occupations and health occupations over different years.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2023
Data insights
The number of women in STEM-qualified occupations increased by around 16,000 (7%) from 2022 to 2023. The number of men increased by around 72,000, a 5% increase.
The proportion of women in STEM-qualified occupations was 15% in 2023, up from 10% in 2003. In comparison, women have made up about 50% of people in non-STEM occupations and 75% of health occupations for 20 years, since 2003.
In the 10 years from 2013 to 2023, women in STEM-qualified occupations rose from about 151,000 to approximately 265,000 – about a 76% increase. The number of men in STEM-qualified occupations increased by about 25% during this time.
From 2013 to 2023, the proportion of women increased from 20% to 23% in university STEM-qualified occupations, like actuaries, mathematicians, statisticians, civil engineering professionals, computer network professionals, environmental scientists and medical laboratory scientists.
Over the same period, the proportion of women increased from 18% to 22% in mixed STEM-qualified occupations, like air transport professionals, ICT managers and science technicians.
Occupations where most of the workforce has VET STEM qualifications (like aircraft maintenance engineers, cabinetmakers, electricians and motor mechanics) have shown extremely low gender balance over time. Women made up only 3% of this group in 2023, the highest proportion across the time series since 1987, when it was just 1%.
About the data
We determined the average number of people employed in each occupation per year by:
- adding together the people employed for each of the 4 reporting periods in a year
- dividing by 4
- rounding the final answer.
This survey reports occupations using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) at a 4-digit level. We defined STEM-qualified occupations by identifying occupations in which the majority of people reported a qualification in a STEM field of education in the 2021 Census of Population and Housing. We further classified occupations by the source of the majority of participants’ qualifications – university, VET or a combination of both (mixed).
View the ABS methodology for the Labour Force Survey.
Read more about our methodology and this data.