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Top 10 Insights 2025

Key challenges and opportunities for the future of Australia’s finance, technology and business sectors.

Throughout the year we engaged with nearly 2,700 stakeholders, representing employers, industry, unions, training providers and governments. 

These top 10 insights summarise the key themes to emerge from engagement activities, revealing both challenges and opportunities for the future of skills, training and workforce development across the finance, technology and business sectors. 

These insights reinforce that the productivity agenda should drive reform at scale, but this must be based on a clear understanding of the skills required. Human skills continue to underpin workforce mobility. Meanwhile, the AI capability gap is holding back progress, and closing it depends on a strong foundation of skills. There is also a significant opportunity for applied learning pathways to become mainstream, with FSO well placed to champion this shift.

In partnership with our stakeholders, we are turning these insights into action to deliver things on the ground which have real impact and unlock Australia’s skill and talent potential.

Insight #1 - Skills power productivity

What if Australia’s most valuable currency is the skills of its people?

Skills reform and the recognition of skills as currency are coming together to shape Australia’s workforce strategy. 

Direct investment in skills drives productivity and economic resilience. Global evidence shows a clear link between adult skill levels and labour productivity.  

Yet Australia’s stagnant training participation remains a risk to productivity growth. 

In a fast-changing labour market, people need to top up their skills regularly.  

Modular, stackable, and portable qualifications motivate workers to earn, trade and build skills continually, boosting career mobility and workforce agility. 

Policy and industry frameworks, like SFIA and OSCA should make skills and credentials interoperable, so learning is recognised across contexts and employers can easily assess skills. 

Reinvigorating training across VET, universities and workplaces is one of the clearest ways to lift productivity. 

The most direct path to higher output per worker is investing in people’s capabilities and recognising skills as a tradable asset. 

How this connects to our work

Insight #2 - The human skills advantage

Do generalist skills underpin a workforce that can navigate change, respond to disruption, and thrive anywhere? 

Technology keeps advancing, but people turn it into progress.  

Problem-solving, teamwork, communication and critical thinking fuel adaptability and flexibility across the workforce. 

Employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030, with adaptability and social influence rising in importance.  

As automation and AI reshapes work, success depends on how quickly people can learn, adapt and apply new knowledge. 

Generalist skills amplify the value of technology, enabling people to shift between roles and industries, helping the workforce respond to disruption and seize new opportunities.  

Training and workforce development strategies must treat human skills as equal priorities to technical ones, adding adaptability, communication and problem-solving into every stage of education and professional development. 

Organisations that invest in developing these capabilities will be best positioned to respond to uncertainty, drive sustained performance and unlock new sources of value in the digital economy.

How this connects to our work

  • Cross Jobs and Skills Council (JSC) Generalist Skills Working Group: One of several inter-JSC working groups that has representation from all 10 JSCs. The group was established by the CEOs as part of the ways of working. 

Insight #3 - Coordination and cooperation across the tertiary education sectors

Why keep two worlds apart when learners and employers say they need them connected? 

Vocational education and training (VET) and higher education often operate like separate worlds. 

Yet smoother entry pathways to VET and higher education, and better transitions between these sectors, would open more learning options for people of all ages and backgrounds. 

It would also help employers, who ultimately just want candidates with the right mix of skills, regardless of where they were learned. 

Australia needs a blended, connected tertiary system, where learners can mix and match elements of both as they need.   

Recognition of learning across the tertiary education system can help address the cost of living and get people into the workforce more quickly, by shortening the time and cost of undertaking additional training.

How this connects to our work

Insight #4 - AI that works for everyone

What will it take for organisations to build public confidence in AI while rapidly scaling capability across all roles? 

AI is the next big productivity leap, but Australia risks falling behind.  

Less than one in five businesses have integrated AI at scale, and digital skill shortages in AI and related areas are a major barrier.  

Closing the digital skills gap could add $25 billion to GDP by 2035.  

But training alone isn’t enough. The organisations getting the best results are those that pair learning with a clear purpose and ethical guardrails.  

Responsible AI means embedding trust, privacy, and ethics across all roles, not just specialists.  

Australia needs clear standards, shared leadership and coordinated support to help businesses and workers move together. The Australian Government’s National AI Plan works towards realising these goals, setting out the steps the government will take to support Australia to build an AI-enabled economy that is more competitive, productive and resilient. 

How this connects to our work

Insight #5 - Cyber security is a team sport

In today’s threat environment, cyber and economic resilience depends on every individual, not just IT specialists. 

In 2024–25, the Australian Signals Directorate received a cybercrime report every six minutes. The average cost of a cyber attack on a small business rose 14% to $56,600. 

AI is raising the bar for scammers. With deepfakes and automated phishing, spotting a threat now takes more than good IT specialists, it takes everyone.  

Just as workplace safety became everyone’s responsibility, cyber security must too. 

Cyber literacy needs to be embedded across all roles and sectors to help everyone become a good digital citizen at work.   

Mainstreaming cyber safety into training packages, such as ensuring every business qualification includes a unit on data security, could rapidly lift awareness across the workforce.

How this connects to our work

Insight #6 - Career change and lifelong learning drive progress

Is learning how to learn a new critical skill? 

Technology and economic shifts are constantly rewriting the job market, erasing some roles, and creating entirely new ones. 

Since the pandemic, global surveys show this pace of change has accelerated. In 2024, 58% of workers who lost their job moved to a new occupation in a different field. 

The Australian Industry Group says more than one in five jobs (22%) are expected to be fundamentally changed by 2030.   

We need to normalise career change. A 45-year-old starting an apprenticeship or a 30-year-old returning to TAFE should be seen as progress, not a step back. 

The education system must do more to support mid-career learning. The most recent data available reveals only 30% of 35–54-year-olds participate in any form of work-related training.    

The ability to engage in lifelong learning and learning how to learn, has become a critical skill itself and is key to economic agility.

How this connects to our work

Insight #7 - Speak industry’s language

If employers can’t see themselves in our language, how can we expect them to participate? 

Many employers, especially those not deeply engaged with training, find the VET sector confusing and difficult to navigate, with technical jargon being a particular barrier. 

Acronyms like ‘AQF’ and terms like ‘Unit of Competency’ mean little to busy business owners who just want their staff trained.  

This communication gap causes many to disengage, either abandoning formal training or seeking quick fixes. 

When employers can’t easily understand or navigate training offerings, they are less likely to use the system for upskilling, hire apprentices or trainees, or participate in training product reviews. This weakens the system’s responsiveness. 

To change it, the training sector must use plain language focused on real outcomes and employer benefits. 

Simplifying collaboration through single contact points or digital portals could encourage more industry engagement.   

How this connects to our work

Industry consultation is central to all our projects to ensure training reflects real-world needs. Learn more about our projects. 

Insight #8 - Australia needs training that works for SMEs

How do we make training work better for small and medium-sized enterprises? 

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are on the frontline of skills needs in Australia. SME owners know their people need new skills, especially when adopting new technology or responding to shifting markets. 

But training often feels out of reach. SME owners face the same hurdles: cost, time, and complexity. 

Many resort to informal training or, if they can, they hire in contractors. It keeps the doors open, but it’s rarely sustainable. 

SMEs want low-fuss, flexible training that fits around the way they work.  

Access to training must be simpler, through targeted subsidies, short courses that minimise time away from work, with flexible delivery, and dedicated SME coordinators or portals that make options easy to navigate. 

And we need more SME voices at the table when planning for Australia’s future skills needs. Their experience will help shape what comes next.

How this connects to our work

Insight #9 - Earn while you learn should be the norm

What would change if paid learning pathways were standard across every industry, not just traditional trades? 

“Earn while you learn” covers any model where paid work and formal learning run in parallel, such as cadetships, degree apprenticeships, and traineeships.  

These options let people build skills in real time while earning an income, making talent pipelines more responsive and more inclusive. 

As Australia faces persistent skills mismatches, especially in tech, finance and business roles, relying on full-time study alone is too slow and too inflexible to meet demand.  

Integrating paid work with training should be a standard pathway into white-collar and digital careers, not just traditional trades. 

The gap is stark. Australia’s tech sector is expanding rapidly and facing a critical skills shortage, yet less than 1% of all apprenticeship and traineeships are in IT.

How this connects to our work

Insight #10 - Numbers + tech + risk = the new finance skillset

Why today’s finance professional must be more than a ‘numbers person’. 

Finance work has changed dramatically: 99% of transactions are digital and data analytics is reshaping decision-making. 

Roles like financial analysts, auditors and advisors now routinely use analytics platforms, Python or R, and AI-enabled tools.  

A scan of 500 finance job ads in 2025 found that 65% asked for advanced Excel, and 25% required some programming or data visualisation skill. 

Regulation is lifting expectations too. APRA guidelines require financial institutions to embed cyber security into their risk controls, while climate-disclosure rules require finance teams to understand climate modelling and sustainability metrics. 

As finance continues to converge with technology, our idea of a finance skillset must evolve. Coding, data capability and strong risk management are fast becoming standard, not specialist, skills for finance professionals.

How this connects to our work

What if Australia’s most valuable currency is the skills of its people? 

Skills reform and the recognition of skills as currency are coming together to shape Australia’s workforce strategy. 

Direct investment in skills drives productivity and economic resilience. Global evidence shows a clear link between adult skill levels and labour productivity.  

Yet Australia’s stagnant training participation remains a risk to productivity growth. 

In a fast-changing labour market, people need to top up their skills regularly.  

Modular, stackable, and portable qualifications motivate workers to earn, trade and build skills continually, boosting career mobility and workforce agility. 

Policy and industry frameworks, like SFIA and OSCA should make skills and credentials interoperable, so learning is recognised across contexts and employers can easily assess skills. 

Reinvigorating training across VET, universities and workplaces is one of the clearest ways to lift productivity. 

The most direct path to higher output per worker is investing in people’s capabilities and recognising skills as a tradable asset. 

How this connects to our work: 

Do generalist skills underpin a workforce that can navigate change, respond to disruption, and thrive anywhere? 

Technology keeps advancing, but people turn it into progress.  

Problem-solving, teamwork, communication and critical thinking fuel adaptability and flexibility across the workforce. 

Employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030, with adaptability and social influence rising in importance.  

As automation and AI reshapes work, success depends on how quickly people can learn, adapt and apply new knowledge. 

Generalist skills amplify the value of technology, enabling people to shift between roles and industries, helping the workforce respond to disruption and seize new opportunities.  

Training and workforce development strategies must treat human skills as equal priorities to technical ones, adding adaptability, communication and problem-solving into every stage of education and professional development. 

Organisations that invest in developing these capabilities will be best positioned to respond to uncertainty, drive sustained performance and unlock new sources of value in the digital economy. 

How this connects to our work: 

  • Cross JSC Generalist Skills Working Group: One of several inter-JSC working groups that has representation from all 10 JSCs. The group was established by the CEOs as part of the ways of working. 

Why keep two worlds apart when learners and employers say they need them connected? 

Vocational education and universities often operate like separate worlds. 

Yet smoother entry pathways to VET and universities, and better transitions between these sectors, would open more learning options for people of all ages and backgrounds. 

It would also help employers, who ultimately just want candidates with the right mix of skills, regardless of where they were learned. 

Australia needs a blended, connected tertiary system, where learners can mix and match elements of both as they need.   

Recognition of learning across the tertiary education system can help address the cost of living and get people into the workforce more quickly, by shortening the time and cost of undertaking additional training. 

How it connects to our work: 

What will it take for organisations to build public confidence in AI while rapidly scaling capability across all roles? 

AI is the next big productivity leap, but Australia risks falling behind.  

Less than one in five businesses have integrated AI at scale, and digital skill shortages in AI and related areas are a major barrier.  

Closing the digital skills gap could add $25 billion to GDP by 2035.  

But training alone isn’t enough. The organisations getting the best results are those that pair learning with a clear purpose and ethical guardrails.  

Responsible AI means embedding trust, privacy, and ethics across all roles, not just specialists.  

Australia needs clear standards, shared leadership and coordinated support to help businesses and workers move together. 

How this connects to our work: 

In today’s threat environment, cyber and economic resilience depends on every individual, not just IT specialists. 

In 2024–25, the Australian Signals Directorate received a cybercrime report every six minutes. The average cost of a cyber attack on a small business rose 14% to $56,600. 

AI is raising the bar for scammers. With deepfakes and automated phishing, spotting a threat now takes more than good IT specialists, it takes everyone.  

Just as workplace safety became everyone’s responsibility, cyber security must too. 

Cyber literacy needs to be embedded across all roles and sectors to help everyone become a good digital citizen at work.   

Mainstreaming cyber safety into training packages, such as ensuring every business qualification includes a unit on data security, could rapidly lift awareness across the workforce. 

How this connects to our work: 

Is learning how to learn a new critical skill? 

Technology and economic shifts are constantly rewriting the job market, erasing some roles, and creating entirely new ones. 

Since the pandemic, global surveys show this pace of change has accelerated. In 2024, 58% of workers who lost their job moved to a new occupation in a different field. 

The Australian Industry Group says more than one in five jobs (22%) are expected to be fundamentally changed by 2030.   

We need to normalise career change. A 45-year-old starting an apprenticeship or a 30-year-old returning to TAFE should be seen as progress, not a step back. 

The education system must do more to support mid-career learning. The most recent data available reveals only 30% of 35–54-year-olds participate in any form of work-related training.    

The ability to engage in lifelong learning and learning how to learn, has become a critical skill itself and is key to economic agility. 

How this connects to our work: 

If employers can’t see themselves in our language, how can we expect them to participate? 

Many employers, especially those not deeply engaged with training, find the VET sector confusing and difficult to navigate, with technical jargon being a particular barrier. 

Acronyms like ‘AQF’ and terms like ‘Unit of Competency’ mean little to busy business owners who just want their staff trained.  

This communication gap causes many to disengage, either abandoning formal training or seeking quick fixes. 

When employers can’t easily understand or navigate training offerings, they are less likely to use the system for upskilling, hire apprentices or trainees, or participate in training product reviews. This weakens the system’s responsiveness. 

To change it, the training sector must use plain language focused on real outcomes and employer benefits. 

Simplifying collaboration through single contact points or digital portals could encourage more industry engagement. 

How this connects to our work: 

Industry consultation is central to all our projects to ensure training reflects real-world needs. Learn more about our projects. 

How do we make training work better for small and medium-sized enterprises? 

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are on the frontline of skills needs in Australia. SME owners know their people need new skills, especially when adopting new technology or responding to shifting markets. 

But training often feels out of reach. SME owners face the same hurdles: cost, time, and complexity. 

Many resort to informal training or, if they can, they hire in contractors. It keeps the doors open, but it’s rarely sustainable. 

SMEs want low-fuss, flexible training that fits around the way they work.  

Access to training must be simpler, through targeted subsidies, short courses that minimise time away from work, with flexible delivery, and dedicated SME coordinators or portals that make options easy to navigate. 

And we need more SME voices at the table when planning for Australia’s future skills needs. Their experience will help shape what comes next. 

How this connects to our work: 

What would change if paid learning pathways were standard across every industry, not just traditional trades? 

“Earn while you learn” covers any model where paid work and formal learning run in parallel, such as cadetships, degree apprenticeships, and traineeships.  

These options let people build skills in real time while earning an income, making talent pipelines more responsive and more inclusive. 

As Australia faces persistent skills mismatches, especially in tech, finance and business roles, relying on full-time study alone is too slow and too inflexible to meet demand.  

Integrating paid work with training should be a standard pathway into white-collar and digital careers, not just traditional trades. 

The gap is stark. Australia’s tech sector is expanding rapidly and facing a critical skills shortage, yet less than 1% of all apprenticeship and traineeships are in IT. 

How this connects to our work: 

Why today’s finance professional must be more than a ‘numbers person. 

Finance work has changed dramatically: 99% of transactions are digital and data analytics is reshaping decision-making. 

Roles like financial analysts, auditors and advisors now routinely use analytics platforms, Python or R, and AI-enabled tools.  

A scan of 500 finance job ads in 2025 found that 65% asked for advanced Excel, and 25% required some programming or data visualisation skill. 

Regulation is lifting expectations too. New APRA guidelines require financial institutions to embed cyber security into their risk controls, while climate-disclosure rules require finance teams to understand climate modelling and sustainability metrics. 

As finance continues to converge with technology, our idea of a finance skillset must evolve. Coding, data capability and strong risk management are fast becoming standard, not specialist, skills for finance professionals. 

How this connects to our work: 

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