Build and scale your team with Melbourne’s skilled workforce
Access to talent is a critical factor when deciding where to locate and scale your business operations.
Melbourne and regional Victoria offer one of Australia’s most highly-educated and diverse workforces, with strong capabilities across technology, advanced manufacturing, life sciences and other high-growth industries.
Supported by world-class universities, leading research institutions and a globally-connected population, Victoria provides a reliable pipeline of skilled talent to support business growth, innovation and expansion into global markets.
Victoria’s workforce at a glance
- 3.8 million people employed, one of Australia’s largest labour pools
- 40% hold a university degree – the highest proportion nationally1
- Strong science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) capability
- Deep talent pools in advanced manufacturing, energy, digital technologies and health
- Established vocational and tertiary pipelines delivering job-ready graduates at scale
- Over 2.1 million residents speak a language other than English at home.
Melbourne positions us to hire top technical talent.
Victoria’s talent advantage
Highly-educated workforce at scale
- One of Australia’s largest labour pools, 3.8 million people are employed in Victoria.
- Over half of all Victorians aged 20-64 hold post-secondary qualifications.1
- 40% of the Victorian labour force has a university degree – the highest proportion of all Australian states, supporting knowledge intensive and R&D focused operations.
- Access PhD-qualified talent across STEM and research-intensive fields.
World-class universities and institutions power the talent pipeline
Melbourne’s universities underpin a strong, consistent pipeline of job-ready graduates while enabling collaboration with industry.
Collaboration may include co-designing curriculum, offering internships and scholarships, and embedding researchers within industry projects.
Close links between academia and business accelerate product development, research translation and commercialisation.
Key university facts
- Home to 9 universities and 18 internationally-recognised medical research institutes
- Only Australian city with universities ranked in the global top 50
- The University of Melbourne (ranked 37th), Australia’s highest ranked university
- Monash University (ranked 58th)
- University of Melbourne ranks #1 in Australia for graduate employability.
Depth in STEM and industry capability
Victoria is a national leader in higher education and research, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
- More STEM-related graduates than any other Australian state or Singapore
- Over 19,600 post-graduate research enrolments annually.
- Fastest growing digital technology sector in Australia, with over 259,000 tech professionals
- Around 30% of Australia’s software engineers based in Victoria
- More software development and cloud computing professionals than other APAC jurisdictions, including Singapore and Hong Kong4
- Highest number of engineering-related technology and IT graduates nationally.
- Growing and increasingly specialised talent pool supporting the new energy transition
- Second highest number of skilled professionals in renewable energy, sustainability and energy-related fields among Australian states.
- Manufacturing is Victoria’s third largest employer, with over 300,500 people.8
- Victoria has the most skilled manufacturing professionals in Australia.
- Victoria has the second highest number of engineering professionals in the advanced manufacturing sector.
- Over 150,100 people6 are employed in agriculture production and food manufacturing.
- Among the top 5 skills in this sector, Victoria has 25% of Australian professionals skilled in fast-moving consumer goods7, 34% of product development4 and 30% of food and beverage manufacturing.4
- Over 95,000 life science professionals9
- Second largest workforce nationally, representing over a third of the Australia’s health workforce.
Strong vocational and technical training pathways
Victoria’s vocational education system ensures businesses can access and develop job-ready talent at scale.
- Statewide network of TAFES and dual-sector universities
- Scalable talent pipelines through apprenticeships, traineeships, micro-credentials and vocational qualifications
- Training co-designed with employers addresses current and emerging skill gaps
- Flexible, applied learning in industry-standard facilities
- Programs that support workforce upskilling and business
A globally-connected, multicultural workforce
- Victoria’s diverse population supports international business operations and market expansion.
Souces
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force, Australia – Seasonally adjusted data as at October 2025
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force, Australia – Seasonally adjusted data as at October 2025
- Australia Bureau of Statistics (2021) Census data
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025
- Times Education Global Employability University Ranking 2026
- Tech Jobs Opportunity Report 2022.
- Australia Bureau of Statistics (2021) Census data
FAQs
Victoria offers immediate access to a large, highly-skilled workforce across key growth sectors, including digital technology, advanced manufacturing, energy and life sciences.
With 3.8 million people employed and the highest share of university-qualified workers in Australia, businesses can recruit experienced professionals locally while also tapping into a steady pipeline of graduates and vocationally-trained talent.
Strong migration and international student pathways further support access to specialised and hard-to-fill roles.
Victoria’s talent pipeline is underpinned by close collaboration between industry, universities and vocational training providers.
Institutions such as the University of Melbourne and Monash University work directly with industry to co-design courses, deliver internships and embed research into commercial projects.
This ensures graduates are job-ready and aligned to current and emerging industry needs, giving investors confidence in workforce availability over the long term.
We can help you to connected in with the relevant universities and TAFES.
Yes. Victoria has deep capability across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and industry-specific talent pools.
The state produces more STEM graduates than any other Australian jurisdiction and has strong concentrations of professionals in areas such as software engineering, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and life sciences.
For highly-specialised roles, businesses can also access postgraduate research talent and benefit from targeted skilled migration programs to fill niche capability gaps.
