The know-how sector contributes round $248.5 billion to the Australian financial system, 8.9% of nationwide GDP, based on a brand new examine by the Tech Council of Australia (TCA).
Releasing a brand new report forward of the trade foyer group’s annual Parliament Home showcase for politicians in Canberra at this time, the Tech Council was eager to press the case for the sector addressing the nation’s flagging productiveness, arguing that its second best sector within the financial system behind mining.
The report, Expertise as Australia’s Productiveness Engine, concluded that the tech sector was probably the most vital contributor to financial productiveness positive aspects over the previous decade, with its affect spreading dramatically past the sector’s direct affect.
The truth is, the practically half the $248.5 billion whole got here from oblique tech-enabled exercise (ie. industries that use tech), with the TCA claiming “we’re ‘techifying’ a complete nation”.
The report reveals that whereas the direct tech sector contribution has doubled over the previous decade, from $63.5bn in 2015, to $126.2bn in 2025, its progress has been modest within the final 5 years, up by round a 3rd, whereas its general contribution to GDP has really fallen over that point, from 4.7% ($93.1bn) in 2021, to 4.6% now.
Oblique tech drives progress
In the meantime, oblique tech adoption has outpaced the expansion of the tech trade itself overing the previous decade, with the Covid period delivering a serious fillip price practically $67 billion to the nationwide financial system since 2021. The report estimates the oblique tech sector contribution at $55.9bn (2.8% of GDP), and greater than doubling to $122.3bn in 2025, representing 4.4% of GDP.
The oblique determine consists of issues like cybersecurity and AI as corporations grapple with points equivalent to fraud and hacking in its adoption of tech.
The report defines direct tech as companies whose major exercise is know-how creation, improvement or provision (eg. software program, digital platforms, IT companies, telecommunications, {hardware} and rising applied sciences).
Oblique tech is all different industries that embed, deploy or depend on digital applied sciences to ship items and companies. That features finance, healthcare, development and retail.
It argues that “there’s a widening productiveness hole between the know-how sector and the broader financial system, characterised by each increased absolute output and accelerating progress charges”.
However the report seems have it each methods when claiming that the broader adoption of tech within the broader financial system is main the cost in GDP progress, pointing to oblique tech productiveness progress of practically 9%.
TCA head of analysis Dr Ilana Feain stated the council set a aim for the tech sector to succeed in $250 billion in contributions to GDP by 2030.
“Expertise-enabled work is now contributing as a lot financial worth exterior the tech sector as inside it. Tech is not simply an trade. It’s driving productiveness and progress throughout the entire financial system, in sectors as completely different as banking, agriculture and aged care.
“Throughout a lot of the financial system, companies are nonetheless within the early phases of adopting digital instruments equivalent to cloud computing, software program and knowledge analytics. There’s substantial room to develop.”
US leads export alternative
In 2025, exports of Australian tech items and companies have been price $13.7bn (2.1% of whole exports), rising with a CAGR of 5.5%. The US is Australia’s most vital market, representing 45.3% of tech exports, adopted by Europe at 38%. Surprisingly, Asia sits at simply 9.6%.
These figures predate the Trump administration and the disruption it has brought on to world commerce.
And Dr Feain notes that whereas the export base has grown, the share of whole Australian exports has fallen from round 2.5% 5 years in the past to 2% at this time.
“With the precise funding and help, tech exports may symbolize an space of future progress,” she stated.
“However we have to be certain that progress is sustainable, diversified, and resilient in a extra complicated world atmosphere.”
As the primary indicators of AI disruption and the loss of thousands of jobs at tech companies such as Atlassian, WiseTech Global, and Block, to call just some, start to hit, the TCA does its greatest to color a optimistic image on a key shibboleth – the government-endorsed aim of 1.2 million know-how‑associated jobs by 2030, however seems to be preventing a shedding battle. “Jobs” options simply 5 of seven occasions in the principle physique of the report.
Jobs outlook challenged
“Since 2021, know-how jobs grew by near 200,000, with whole tech employment now near 1 million,” the Tech Council’s media launch says.
The precise quantity is 80% of that determine – 161,000 jobs between 2021 and 2024, at an annual progress charge of 6.9%. Nonethless that’s greater than double the annual nationwide jobs progress charge of 3.1% over the identical interval, which in itself a rise on the 10-year pre-Covid common of 1.7%.
The report says tech is Australia’s seventh largest employer by trade, at 7.5% of the roles market by 2024.
However the employment development over the past 12 months has gone within the different course since its 2024 peak, with Division of Trade, Science and Assets (DISR) concluding that Australia had round 950,000 tech employees as of Could 2025, and that the sector was “not on track” to meet the 1.2 million tech jobs target.
“The measure was not met because the trajectory shouldn’t be on observe to succeed in the goal by 2030,” DISR stated.
“A decline in [three] successive quarters all through [2025] signifies a possible ongoing development.”
Whereas the Productiveness Engine report put oblique tech adoption entrance and centre of the expansion story, DISR discovered the other in its report, launched final November.
“There was additionally a 3.6% discount in know-how jobs in know-how industries, which was per world tendencies, and a 3.2% discount in non‑know-how jobs in know-how industries over the identical interval,” the division stated.
Industries equivalent to vitality, healthcare, and training had seen will increase up to now eight quarters, however DISR discovered the drop in know-how jobs “aligned extra carefully with declines in some conventional industries”.
These included data, media, and telecommunications (down 6.9%), manufacturing (down 2.3%), and administrative companies (down 2%).
Extra AI disruption suggests an acceleration of the unfavourable development.
The TCA report says tech employees contribute on common $50,000 extra, yearly, to the financial system than employees
in different industries, and that the direct tech sector generates $317,000 in Gross Worth Added (GVA) per hour making second solely to mining, which has its personal share of billionaire homeowners.
The first knowledge supply for this report was 2025 ABS knowledge from the Enterprise Longitudinal Evaluation Information Atmosphere (BLADE).
The Technology as Australia’s Productivity Engine report is available here.
