The Australian Local Government Workforce and Employment Census is part of a national initiative by federal, state and territory local government ministers to improve local government workforce development.
Funded by the Australian Government and coordinated by The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG), the workforce census has been designed to collect standardised workforce data from all 565 councils across Australia.
Once collected, the data will present workforce analysis by region, council classification and by state, enabling councils to benchmark themselves against aggregated groupings of councils (national, state and regional).
A national local government workforce strategy is also being prepared and will be submitted to state, federal and territory governments for consideration.
State local government associations, Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) and the Australian Services Union (ASU) have been involved in this project throughout its development.
The information gathered from the census will be used to improve workforce-planning capacity within individual councils, and to support sector-wide and jurisdictional efforts to address skill shortages, enhance the professionalism of local government and facilitate greater workforce diversity.
The census will also develop and maintain a nationally consistent dataset on women’s participation in the local government sector, including both elected representatives and senior management positions.
The survey represents a major step forward in the collection of nationally consistent data and councils will be able to use the information to benchmark national workforce initiatives, as well as to seek support for local and regional initiatives that are designed to address evidence-based issues.
Most councils will have already received a link to the survey, which began on November 30th, and an accompanying information pack. Councils that have not received an invitation but would like to participate in the census can register at www.algwecensus.org. The census is open until the 21st December.
