Australia data centre jobs surge in east coast states

Job postings tied to data centres in Australia have risen sharply over the past year, with the increase concentrated in New South Wales and Victoria.

Around 1% of Australian job postings mentioned data centres in August, after peaking at 1.2% a few months earlier, according to Indeed analysis. That share was nearly 2.5 times higher than a year earlier and about double the level recorded two years ago.

The figures point to a labour market effect from a broader investment surge in facilities that store, manage and distribute data. Demand for new capacity has grown as businesses expand their use of artificial intelligence tools, which require large amounts of computing infrastructure.

Commonwealth Bank has forecast about AUD $150 billion of investment in new Australian data centre capacity by 2030. That spending is already feeding through to hiring, although many of the economic gains from construction are reduced by the need to import a large share of equipment and materials.

Investment in equipment, plant and machinery across the information media and communications industry has risen to 0.4% of annual nominal GDP, about 2.5 times higher than a year ago. Commonwealth Bank estimates data centre investment will add 0.2 percentage points to real GDP growth in both 2026 and 2027.

State focus

The build-out is not spread evenly across the country. Australia has 167 operating data centre projects, with another 225 in the pipeline, although publicly available information covers only about half of those planned developments.

New South Wales has 48 operating data centres, compared with 38 in Victoria, 25 in Queensland and 15 in the ACT. Proposed projects are even more heavily weighted towards New South Wales and Victoria, suggesting the industry will become more concentrated in those two states over the next several years.

"This data will change as more information becomes publicly available, new projects are announced and others are cancelled or delayed. However, based on current proposals, data centre capacity will become increasingly concentrated in these two states over the next five years," said Callam Pickering, Senior APAC Economist at Indeed.

That concentration is also visible in hiring patterns. In the three months to August, 1.3% of job postings in New South Wales mentioned data centres and 1.2% in Victoria, both ahead of the other major states.

The ACT stood out on a per-posting basis, with data centres mentioned in 1.6% of job ads. By volume, however, New South Wales dominated with 48% of all data centre posting activity, followed by Victoria on 28% and Queensland on 11%.

"Job creation thus far has been concentrated heavily on Australia's east coast. Canberra punches above its weight, with data centres mentioned in 1.6% of job postings in the three months to August.

"With most major data centre projects located in New South Wales and Victoria, these trends will likely continue," Pickering said.

Beyond tech

The jobs being created are not limited to software engineers and other traditional technology roles. Indeed's breakdown for the 2025-26 financial year shows data centre hiring spread across construction, operations, engineering and management, as well as digital work.

IT infrastructure, operations and support accounted for 14.7% of data centre job postings, making it the largest single category. Management followed at 14.1%, while software development represented 12.6%.

Other notable areas included installation and maintenance at 8.9%, electrical engineering at 8.7% and industrial engineering at 7.1%. The mix reflects the labour needed to design, build, run and maintain large-scale facilities.

That broad demand could tighten labour supply in some occupations, particularly in eastern states where most projects are based. Australia continues to report skills shortages across a range of technical and trade-heavy roles.

"Strong demand for workers across these occupations could put upward pressure on wages, particularly where labour supply is limited," Pickering said.

"Skill shortages are still quite common across Australia. This could also spill over into other parts of the economy, creating broader wage and price pressures, similar to what happened during Australia's mining investment boom in the 2000s," he said.

Rising attention

Interest from jobseekers has also picked up, though later than the rise in vacancies. Searches for data centre roles were broadly flat from 2023 to 2025 and lower last year than in 2023.

That changed this year. In August, search activity for data centre roles and similar terms was 160% higher than in December last year and 136% above the 2023 average.

The shift suggests workers are beginning to respond to the sector's growing visibility, after an earlier phase in which employers stepped up recruitment before attracting broader public attention.

"The sharp increase speaks to growing awareness of data centres and recognition of the opportunities created by this investment boom. As investment gathers pace and new projects attract greater attention, we expect jobseeker interest to push even higher," Pickering said.

The expansion also raises questions about energy use and resource competition. Data centres already consume about 3% of electricity supplied to the grid, and the Australian Energy Market Operator expects that share to reach 13% within a decade, close to the amount of electricity now used by all homes in New South Wales and Victoria combined.

"Australia is at the beginning of its largest investment boom since the 2000s. Data centre investment is forecast at around $150 billion over the remainder of the decade, contributing noticeably to real GDP growth, although the net economic impact is somewhat muted by the need to import equipment and materials," Pickering said.

"Nevertheless, the labour market impact is already emerging. Data centre job postings have increased sharply, with demand extending well beyond traditional tech occupations. Jobseekers are also starting to take notice.

"Strong competition for workers with in-demand skills could put upward pressure on wages and resource costs more broadly, particularly in Australia's eastern states where most of the investment is concentrated," he said.