National workforce report highlights future skills priorities for local government
The report provides up to date evidence of workforce skills, capability and recruitment trends across the local government sector.
LGA partnered with Public Skills Australia and LG Professionals SA to support the South Australian component of the project, ensuring our sector's experiences and priorities were reflected in the national and state findings. The project included metropolitan and regional focus group workshops, followed by a sector-wide workforce survey.
Thank you to the many councils and council staff who contributed. The collaborative approach ensured that South Australian councils are recognised collectively in the findings.
Key themes
The report identifies a range of workforce challenges affecting councils across South Australia, including:
- ongoing recruitment and retention pressures - 76 per cent of responding SA councils reported occupational shortages in 2024–25
- hardest to fill roles include:
- urban/town planners (38 per cent)
- engineers (33 per cent)
- building surveyors (29 per cent)
- WHS professionals
- ICT technicians (24 per cent each)
- increasing competition for skilled workers - uncompetitive salaries (cited by 52 per cent of councils) and regional, rural or remote location (48 per cent) were identified as the biggest drivers behind these shortages
- the need to build capability in emerging and specialist roles - councils are anticipating growing demand for AI and digital transformation skills, cybersecurity officers, and climate and sustainability specialists, with WHS professionals, governance/risk managers and truck drivers also emerging as new pressure points
- growing demand for interpersonal skills - participants reflected that in addition to technical and occupational-specific skills, interpersonal skills are increasingly important to help navigate the complex environments councils operate.
- the importance of workforce planning and targeted learning and development - to support future service delivery, particularly as councils navigate housing shortages in regional areas and increasingly difficult public interactions affecting staff wellbeing and retention.
The findings reinforce what many South Australian councils are already experiencing as they respond to changing community expectations, increasing service complexity and a competitive labour market.
What happens next?
The report provides a valuable evidence base for future discussions with Public Skills Australia, governments and sector partners as opportunities arise to strengthen workforce capability across local government.
LGA will continue to raise awareness of careers in local government through the Local Councils Careers in Council platform.