The Scope of UEE or Electrotechnology Careers in Australia Leave a comment

The scope of UEE or electrotechnology careers in Australia is comprehensive and includes various career paths.

The Electrotechnology Industry is one of Australia’s fastest-growing industries, supported by strong export growth and increasing demand for technology solutions. The sector employs over 50,000 people directly and indirectly and contributes $34 billion annually to our economy.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills are highly sought after by employers across the country. If you have an interest in STEM subjects, then it’s likely that you will be able to find work as a technician, engineer, scientist or researcher.

Suppose you want to work in the field of engineering. In that case, many opportunities are available for graduates with degrees in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, and computer science.

The Electrotechnology industry comprises six main industry sectors:

• Electrical Services (Electricians)
• Electrical Engineering
• Industrial Control
• Electronics and Computers
• Refrigeration and Air-conditioning
• Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

Electrical Services are responsible for installing, maintaining and repairing electrical systems throughout residential and commercial buildings. They use various tools such as hand tools, power tools, measuring instruments and test equipment to install, maintain and repair electrical installations.

Electrical Engineers work in areas such as electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply; telecommunications networks; computer networking; control systems; automation and robotics; medical electronics; industrial process control; instrumentation; laboratory testing; and research and development. Electrical engineers design and develop products, processes and systems used in manufacturing, transportation, communications, energy production, storage and conversion.

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are essential components of modern factory operations. ICS provides automated control of machinery, processes, and devices within factories, warehouses, and offices. These systems help ensure that machines do what they are supposed to do while preventing them from doing anything else. Examples include automatic doors, elevators, conveyors, ovens, refrigerators, and water heaters.

Refrigeration and air conditioning technicians perform routine maintenance and repairs on heating, cooling and ventilation systems. Their responsibilities include checking and adjusting thermostats, fans, pumps, valves, coils, motors, compressors, and controls.

Renewable and sustainable energy technologies are those that produce clean, renewable and efficient sources of energy. In recent decades, technological advances in solar photovoltaic cells, wind turbines, fuel cells, geothermal energy, hydroelectricity and biomass have significantly increased global investment in renewables.

ESI Generation refers to generating electric energy from alternative sources such as solar, wind, wave and tidal power, biofuels, and nuclear fission. ESIs are typically located in remote locations with little access to conventional power supplies.

Here’s a snapshot of the labour market in Australia.

This includes data about the number of people employed, unemployed and underemployed; hours worked per week; average weekly earnings; and the proportion of workers working part-time because they cannot find full-time work.

This report provides information on the labour force participation rates, unemployment rates, underemployment rates, total employment, average weekly earnings, and the number of people employed in different industries.

Key findings include:

• For the electrician occupation, although there was a fluctuation between 2001 and 2021, overall employment increased from 83350 to 169300. Those figures are expected to rise again until 2026. In addition, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics saw an increase of 19% during the same period. However, these numbers should remain steady through 2025.
• The occupation of electrical engineers has fluctuated throughout history. More than doubling from 2001 to 2009, employment numbers peaked at 14,700 in 2009. Since then, employment levels have gone down to 8,000 in 2021, an expected number to remain steady through the next four years.
• The decline in employment levels for these two professions can largely be attributed to an increased reliance on technology. Even though these two professions may not sound very exciting, the number of people involved is relatively high, meaning that employment levels should continue to rise until about 2025. Both these roles experienced some variation in employment levels between 2001 and 2021, but overall the figures have declined by approximately half (by 48% and 53%, respectively). By 2025, a slight increase in employment levels to 7,500is predicted for electronic engineering draftsperson, and technician roles are expected to double to 29,400 by 2025.
• The employment levels for electronics trade workers have decreased by about 20% since 2001, with an expected continual decrease in future employment levels through 2025.
• Program enrolments in the Electrotechnical Engineering training package have decreased yearly, to 60,300 in 2018 across Australia, but increased every year to a peak in 2020 at roughly 64,150, up from the previous high 0f 63,160 in the year 2017. However, program completions declined to 15,820 in 2020, but levels are still above the low point of 14,890 in 2017.

Over the past five years, around 90% of subjects were delivered as part of a nationally recognised program.

FAQs

Why study electrotechnology?

To survive in this modern society, our lives depend entirely on technology. We use electricity every day, from how we heat our homes to how we communicate with each other. Electrotechnology is an essential topic in today’s education system. It teaches students how electrical energy works and relates back to our everyday lives.

What electrotechnology courses are on offer?

AT VET Resources, we offer a range of training courses designed to meet specific industry needs, from a Certificate II in electrical skills to advanced diplomas in electrical engineering. For e.g. Certificate III in electrotechnology electrician and
Certificate IV in Electronics and Communications.

What types of jobs can I do in electrotechnology?

Whether you want to work in the Cobar mines or a bustling metro CBD, there are exciting career opportunities across the industry:

• Electronic installation technician
• Electrician or electrical contractor
• Senior technical officer (electrical engineering)
• Technical officer (electrical engineering)
• Renewable energy installer
• Communication technician

Electrotechnology opens up career opportunities in many engineering fields with high demand for skilled workers – electrical, electronics, instrumentation, process control, renewable energy and power.

What’s happening in the electrotechnology industry? 

If you take a good look at our modern lives, everything we do requires electricity. Our phones, computers, cars, and refrigerators run off electricity. If you think about it, pretty much everything we use today was made possible through the invention of electricity.

No wonder then that jobs in the electrotechnical sector are growing so fast! In fact, for this reason, electrical mechanics and technicians continue to be in extremely high demand, with a projected 5.3% increase in job openings by 2024, meaning the number of electrical jobs will also surge during the same timeframe.