The latest jobs data from recruitment firm SEEK reveals job  advertising for Science & Technology was up by 22%, along with strong increases in Mining, Resources & Energy (54%), Trades & Services (31%), Engineering (25% ), and Government & Defence (21%).

And in terms of increased opportunity in Science and Technology roles, Victoria leads the market, with 30% jobs growth, followed by a 24% increase in Queensland, and 21% in NSW.

Across the board in all sectors job ads on SEEK were up 14.7% as of January 2018 compared to 12 months ago.

"We’re seeing a strong national demand for STEM skills — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — which reflects a global talent shortage. This ’talent shortage’ has been identified by Australian chief executives as one of their top business risk areas, but it also creates huge competitive job opportunities for Australians with engineering and IT skills," said Banks.

“Another significant area of growth is evident in Government & Defence. This is driven by a strong increase in the large employing sub-sector of Local Government.

"Across Australia new job ads in Local Government are up 31% with more than 1200 opportunities available. Strong increases in job opportunities but off lower bases were seen in the Navy and Police & Corrections.”

SEEK says Sport & Recreation, Banking & Financial Services and Real Estate & Property all showed relatively weak growth, while nationwide, the only sector to show a decline was Arts, Advertising & Media, which dropped 8% y/y.