Gas

Overview

This page provides information and data on the Gas sector, which is one component of the Utilities industry.

The Gas sector in Australia has an estimated annual revenue of $13.2 billion, and was predicted to add $3.6 billion to the Australian economy in 2016–17. The industry employs more than 16,000 in the following four sub-sectors:

LPG bottling and storage
retailing of gas
transmission of gas
distribution of gas.

Vocational education and training is required for occupations involved in:

transmission and distribution of natural gas
handling and packaging of LPG at terminals.

Nationally recognised training for Gas is delivered under the UEG – Gas Industry Training Package. For more information on ESI – Generation, ESI – Transmission, Distribution and Rail and Water sectors, please visit the respective pages.

Information sourced from the Gas Industry Reference Committee Skills Forecast 2017.

IRC and skills forecasts

Gas IRC

Employment trends

Employment snapshot

The employment level for the Gas Supply industry sector reached a peak of approximately 18,000 during 2014 and has declined since then. The level is projected to fall further over the next 5 years until 2022.

Plumbers (including Gas Fitters) made up approximately 6% of the Gas Supply industry sector workforce. The employment level in this occupation is projected to increase over the next few years until 2022. Note: In the ANZSCO classification list Gas Fitters are categorised as a sub occupation of Plumbers (4 digit level). More detailed information and data on plumbing training and qualifications will be contained within the forthcoming Construction cluster.

Training provider type
Funding source

Commencements and completions
Qualification level and occupation
State and territory

Training snapshot

There were just over 1,600 program enrolments in the Gas Industry Training Package during 2016 and approximately 260 program completions. Program enrolments more than doubled between 2014 and 2016. Program completions increased fourfold between 2014 and 2015 before decreasing by more than half during 2016. The majority of training at the certificate III and IV levels was for the intended occupation of Plumber (including Gas Fitter).

Most of the enrolments were with private providers although the funding source for the training was split fairly evenly between government funding and domestic fee for service. Over 70% of students who enrolled during 2016 were from Victoria and over 20% were from Queensland.

Apprenticeship commencements in the Gas Industry Training Package were highly variable over time, peaking at just over 500 during 2015. Apprenticeship completions similarly peaked in 2015 at nearly 250. The majority of apprentices were training towards the intended occupation of Gas Fitter.

For more data specific to your occupation, industry or training package, visit NCVER’s VET students by industry.

For more data specific to your region, visit NCVER’s Atlas of total VET. If you are prompted to log in, select cancel and you will continue to be directed to the program.

If you are interested in extracting NCVER data to construct tables with data relevant to you, sign up for a VOCSTATS account.

Industry insights

Industry insights on skills needs

As identified in the Gas IRC Skills Forecast, the top priority skills required for the Gas sector are:

technical
professionalism
computer skills
adaptability
organisational/planning.

According to the job vacancy data, the top advertised VET-related occupation (Technicians and Trades Workers and Machinery Operators and Drivers) in the Gas Supply industry is Building and Engineering Technicians, and the top advertised location for VET-related occupations is Western Australia.

South Australia’s Training and Skills Commission report to the Government on Industry Priority Qualifications in 2016 found that for the Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services industry sectors, the work and safety skills cluster was ranked by survey respondents as having the highest importance, followed by sustainability and environment and then the information and technology skills cluster.

A 2013 report by Energy Queensland on the CSG to LNG Industry Workforce stated that the sector was still developing and that consequently, education and training for this area was also underdeveloped. Because of the lack of training capability in this area, gas companies have led training and education initiatives to meet demand.

Links and resources

Skills and training needs 2013: Victorian electricity and gas industry – Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Government of Victoria.

Data sources and notes

Department of Employment, 2017, Employment Projections, available from the Labour Market Information Portal.

by ANZSIC 2 digit 27 Gas Supply industry, employment projections to May 2022
by ANZSCO, selected occupations , employment projections to May 2022
- 3341 Plumbers
- 3992 Chemical, Gas, Petroleum and Power Generation Plant Operators.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017, Employed persons by Industry group of main job (ANZSIC), sex, state and territory, November 1984 onwards, 6291.0.55.003 - EQ06, viewed 1 September 2017 <http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003May%202017?OpenDocument>.

Employed total by ANZSIC 2 digit 27 Gas Supply industry, 2000 to 2017, May Quarter .

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017, 2016 Census – employment, income and unpaid work, TableBuilder. Findings based on use of ABS TableBuilder data.

Employment level by 2 digit 27 Gas Supply industry, and 4 digit level occupations to identify the relevant VET-related occupations in the industry as a proportion of the total workforce.

Training data has been extracted from the National VET Provider Collection, Total VET Student and Courses from the following training package or qualifications:

UEG - Gas Industry Training Package.

This includes superseded qualifications and training packages.

Data covers a range of selected student and training characteristics in the following categories and years:

2014, 2015, 2016 program enrolments
2014, 2015, 2016 subject enrolments
2014, 2015, 2016 program completions.

Total VET students and courses data is reported for the calendar year. Program enrolments are the qualifications, courses and skill sets in which students are enrolled in a given period. For students enrolled in multiple programs, all programs are counted. Program completion indicates that a student has completed a structured and integrated program of education or training. Location data uses student residence. Subject enrolment is registration of a student at a training delivery location for the purpose of undertaking a module, unit of competency or subject. For more information on the terms and definitions, please refer to the Total VET students and courses: terms and definitions document.

Low counts (less than 5) are not reported to protect client confidentiality.

Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. This can lead to situations where the total sum of proportions in a chart may not add up to exactly 100%.

UEG – Gas Industry Training Package apprentice and trainee data has been extracted from the National Apprentice and Trainee Collection, including:

2010 to 2016 commencements
2010 to 2016 completions
2016 apprentices and trainees in-training October to December 2016 collection, by qualification and state and territory of data submitter.

Priority skills data have been extracted from Gas Industry Reference Committee Skills Forecast 2017.

Burning Glass Technologies: Labour insight – real-time labour market information tool <http://www.burning-glass.com> 2017.

Job advertisements from all of Australia from January 2014 to August 2017 are included in the analysis. Data shown is the top five advertised VET-related occupations (1–6 digit level Technicians and Trades Workers, Labourers, and Machinery Operators and Drivers) in the Gas Supply industry sector and the top five locations and employers according to job advertisements.

Gas

Sectors