National Community Services Workforce Profile Project
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The final report “Who Works in Community Services – a profile of Australian workforces in child protection, juvenile justice, disability services and general community services” is has been commissioned by the Community and Disability Services Ministerial Advisory Council (www.csmac.gov.au) and is available for download from this page.
The report represents delivery of a major CDSMAC initiative, undertaken by the Structural Issues in the Workforce (SIW) Sub-Committee.
In June 2005, CDSMAC established the SIW Sub-Committee to develop and implement strategic and collaborative responses to attraction and retention priorities for the community services workforce. A major component of this work was to conduct a large scale survey of community services employers and employees.
Following extensive research and consultation, the survey was in the field in late 2009. This is the first time that the community service workforce has been surveyed nationally across government and non-government sectors including child protection, juvenile justice, disability services and general community service workers.
Data within the final report provides foundational workforce information, identifying important facts about community services organisations and the people who work in the field.
The report provides comparable, point in time, baseline data for the community services workforce which has the potential to be used for workforce planning purposes.
The report provides an indicative profile of the community services workforce, which identifies factors that impact upon the size and characteristics of the workforce, and in particular factors that impact on attraction and retention of staff.
It is anticipated that this information will assist the development, implementation and evaluation of national and jurisdictional strategies to address workforce issues, especially regarding attraction and retention for the community services sector.
Re-implementation of the survey to obtain trend workforce information will be considered by CDSMAC.
The National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS), at Flinders University, was the tendered consultancy services provider for the project.
Queensland, Department of Communities has been the lead state for the SIW Sub-Committee and the WPP.
Should you require further information, please contact Ashleigh Gibson, WPP Project Manager on (07) 3836 0451 or by email at ashleigh.gibson@communities.qld.gov.au.
