Veterinarians

ANZSCO ID 2347

Overview

Snapshot

Employed
13,500
Future Growth
19.7%
Weekly Earnings
N/A
Full-Time Share
68%
Female Share
61%
Average age
39

Summary

Veterinarians diagnose, treat and prevent animal diseases, ailments and injuries.

Also known as: Veterinary Surgeon.

Specialisations: Veterinary Parasitologist, Veterinary Pathologist.

A bachelor degree in veterinary science is needed to work as a Veterinarian.

Tasks

  • treating animals medically and surgically, and administering and prescribing drugs, analgesics, and general and local anaesthetics

  • determining the presence and nature of abnormal conditions by physical examination, laboratory testing and through diagnostic imaging techniques including radiography and ultrasound

  • performing surgery, dressing wounds and setting broken bones

  • rendering obstetric services to animals

  • participating in programs designed to prevent the occurrence and spread of animal diseases

  • inoculating animals against, and testing for, infectious diseases and notifying authorities of outbreaks of infectious animal diseases

  • performing autopsies to determine cause of death

  • advising clients on health, nutrition and feeding, hygiene, breeding and care of animals

  • may provide professional services to commercial firms producing biological and pharmaceutical products

  • may specialise in the treatment of a particular animal group or in a particular specialty area such as cardiology, chiropractic, dermatology or critical care

Characteristics

Job Type
Professionals
Skill Level
Very high skill
ANZSCO Occupation group
Unemployment Rate
Below average
Industries
Pathway(s)
  • University
Interests
  • Practical
  • Analytical
Physical Demand
  • Light
  • Medium
  • Heavy

Outlook

Employment Outlook

JSA produces employment projections to show where likely future job opportunities may be. The latest data are for the five years from November 2021 to November 2026. Over this period, the number of workers:

  • is expected to grow very strongly
  • is likely to reach 11,400 by 2026.
  • Source: Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections to 2026.

    Notes: The number employed includes people who work in this occupation as their main job. People who work in more than one job are counted against the occupation they work the most hours in.

    Employment projections figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Calculations based on these rounded figures may result in differences to the numbers that are displayed on this page. Employment projections data (including occupations) can be downloaded from the Employment Projections page.

Projected Change
19.7%
(or 1,900 jobs)
From
9,600
in 2021
To
11,400
in 2026

Number of Workers

Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, ABS seasonally adjusted data to November 2021 and Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections to 2026.
Year Employment
2011 7,500
2012 11,700
2013 8,600
2014 10,200
2015 8,300
2016 10,300
2017 10,100
2018 11,500
2019 5,800
2020 13,700
2021 9,600
2026 11,400

Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, ABS seasonally adjusted data to November 2021 and Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections to 2026.


Earnings and hours

Working arrangements

  • Around 72% of people employed as Veterinarians work full-time hours, in all their jobs combined. This is 6 percentage points above the all jobs average (66%).

    Full-time workers work an average of 46 hours per week in their main job. This is similar to the all jobs average (44 hours per week).

    More than a third of workers regularly work overtime or extra hours (either paid or unpaid).

    Sources: Full-time share and full-time hours: ABS, 2016 Census, customised report. Compared to the all jobs average. Overtime hours: ABS, Characteristics of Employment, 2021.


Industries

Main industries

1
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
87.6%
2
Manufacturing
2.9%
3
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
2.2%
4
Public Administration and Safety
2.2%
5
Other industries
5.1%

Regions

Employment across Australia

NSW

28.7% All occupations: 31.6%

VIC

26.1% All occupations: 25.6%

QLD

22.2% All occupations: 20.0%

SA

6.6% All occupations: 7.0%

WA

11.2% All occupations: 10.8%

TAS

2.3% All occupations: 2.0%

NT

0.9% All occupations: 1.0%

ACT

2.0% All occupations: 1.9%

Employment by State and Territory (% Share)

State Veterinarians All Jobs Average
NSW 28.7 31.6
VIC 26.1 25.6
QLD 22.2 20.0
SA 6.6 7.0
WA 11.2 10.8
TAS 2.3 2.0
NT 0.9 1.0
ACT 2.0 1.9



Worker profile

Age and gender

Age In Years
39
All Jobs Average is 40
Female Share
61%
All Jobs Average is 48%
  • The median age of Veterinarians is 39 years. This is similar to the all jobs average of 40 years.

    A large share of workers are aged 25 to 34 years.

    Females make up 61% of the workforce. This is 13 percentage points above the all jobs average of 48%.

    Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile and gender share compared to the all jobs average.

Age Profile (% Share)

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Bracket Veterinarians All Jobs Average
15-19 0.2 5.0
20-24 3.2 9.3
25-34 33.1 22.9
35-44 26.0 22.0
45-54 20.0 21.6
55-59 7.6 9.0
60-64 4.8 6.0
65 and Over 5.1 4.2
Median Age 39 40

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.


Employment Pathways

Education, training and experience

A bachelor degree in veterinary science is needed to work as a Veterinarian.

Registration or licencing is required.

Visit

  • Course Seeker to search and compare higher education courses.
  • ComparED to compare undergraduate and postgraduate student experiences and outcomes.

Highest Level of Education (% Share)

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
Type of Qualification Veterinarians All Jobs Average
Post Graduate/Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate 16.4 10.1
Bachelor degree 79.9 21.8
Advanced Diploma/Diploma 1.2 11.6
Certificate III/IV 1.0 21.1
Year 12 1.1 18.1
Year 11 0.1 4.8
Year 10 and below 0.4 12.5

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.


Skills and Knowledge

Employers look for Veterinarians who are caring and empathetic and can work well in a team, with the ability to communicate with a diverse range of people.

Skills

Skills can be improved through training or experience.

  • 70%

    Reading comprehension

    Reading work related information.

  • 64%

    Science

    Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

  • 61%

    Critical thinking

    Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

  • 59%

    Writing

    Writing things for co-workers or customers.

  • 57%

    Active listening

    Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

  • 57%

    Judgment and decision making

    Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.

  • 57%

    Speaking

    Talking to others.

  • 57%

    Active learning

    Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.

  • 55%

    Monitoring

    Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.

  • 55%

    Social perceptiveness

    Understanding why people react the way they do.

  • 55%

    Instructing

    Teaching people how to do something.

  • 54%

    Serving others

    Looking for ways to help people.

  • 52%

    Time management

    Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.

  • 52%

    Coordination with others

    Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.

  • 48%

    Complex problem solving

    Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

  • 48%

    Learning strategies

    Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.

  • 43%

    Persuasion

    Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.

  • 41%

    Management of personnel resources

    Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, and choosing the best people for the job.

  • 41%

    Negotiation

    Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.

  • 41%

    Operations analysis

    Understanding needs and product requirements to create a design.


Knowledge

These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.

  • 83%

    Medicine and dentistry

    Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.

  • 76%

    Customer and personal service

    Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.

  • 73%

    Biology

    Plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, how they rely on and work with each other and the environment.

  • 61%

    English language

    English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

  • 58%

    Chemistry

    Chemical composition, structure, and properties. How chemicals are made, used, mixed, and can change.

  • 55%

    Sales and marketing

    Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

  • 53%

    Mathematics

    Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.

  • 52%

    Psychology

    Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.

  • 50%

    Administration and management

    Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.

  • 49%

    Computers and electronics

    Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

  • 45%

    Personnel and human resources

    Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.

  • 45%

    Law and government

    How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.

  • 45%

    Public safety and security

    Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.

  • 44%

    Clerical

    Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.

  • 44%

    Education and training

    Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

  • 42%

    Therapy and counselling

    Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and career counselling and guidance.

  • 38%

    Economics and accounting

    Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.

  • 37%

    Communications and media

    Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.

  • 30%

    Physics

    The physical laws of matter, motion and energy, and how they interact through space and time.

  • 22%

    Telecommunications

    Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.


Abilities

Workers use these physical and mental abilities..

  • 73%

    Problem spotting

    Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.

  • 68%

    Inductive reasoning

    Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.

  • 63%

    Deductive reasoning

    Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.

  • 61%

    Near vision

    See details that are up-close (within a few feet).

  • 59%

    Oral comprehension

    Listen to and understand what people say.

  • 59%

    Written comprehension

    Read and understand written information.

  • 57%

    Oral expression

    Communicate by speaking.

  • 57%

    Arm-hand steadiness

    Keep your hand or arm steady.

  • 57%

    Finger dexterity

    Put together small parts with your fingers.

  • 57%

    Written expression

    Write in a way that people can understand.

  • 55%

    Sorting or ordering

    Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

  • 52%

    Manual dexterity

    Quickly move your hand to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.

  • 48%

    Speech clarity

    Speak clearly so others can understand you.

  • 48%

    Speech recognition

    Identify and understand the speech of another person.

  • 46%

    Brainstorming

    Come up with a number of ideas about a topic, even if the ideas aren't very good.

  • 46%

    Categorising

    Come up with different ways of grouping things.

  • 45%

    Selective attention

    Pay attention to something without being distracted.

  • 45%

    Flexibility of closure

    See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.

  • 45%

    Originality

    Come up with unusual or clever ideas, or creative ways to solve a problem.

  • 43%

    Colour discrimination

    Notice differences between colours, including shades of colour and brightness.


Activities

These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.

  • 83%

    Looking for changes over time

    Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.

  • 82%

    Keeping your knowledge up-to-date

    Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.

  • 81%

    Monitoring people, processes and things

    Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.

  • 80%

    Making decisions and solving problems

    Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.

  • 80%

    Helping and caring for others

    Providing personal assistance, medical attention, or emotional support.

  • 76%

    Working with the public

    Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.

  • 69%

    Researching and investigating

    Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.

  • 68%

    Collecting and organising information

    Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.

  • 68%

    Building good relationships

    Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.

  • 67%

    Planning and prioritising work

    Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.

  • 66%

    Handling and moving objects

    Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, moving and manipulating objects.

  • 65%

    Making sense of information and ideas

    Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.

  • 64%

    Documenting or recording information

    Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.

  • 58%

    Negotiating and resolving conflicts

    Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.

  • 57%

    Communicating within a team

    Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.

  • 56%

    Influencing people

    Convincing people to buy something or to change their minds or actions.

  • 55%

    Checking compliance with standards

    Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

  • 54%

    Giving expert advice

    Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups.

  • 53%

    Explaining things to people

    Helping people to understand and use information.

  • 43%

    Working with computers

    Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.


Interests and demands

Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.

Interests

Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.

  • 100%

    Analytical

    Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.

  • 81%

    Practical

    Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

  • 52%

    Helping

    Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.

  • 38%

    Administrative

    Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.

  • 29%

    Creative

    Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.

  • 24%

    Enterprising

    Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.


Values

Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
  • 100%

    Achievement

    Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

  • 90%

    Independence

    Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.

  • 86%

    Recognition

    Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.

  • 86%

    Relationships

    Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

  • 83%

    Working conditions

    Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.

  • 67%

    Support

    Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.


Demands

The physical and social demands that workers face most often are shown below:
  • 100%

    Telephone

    Talk on the telephone.

  • 97%

    Frequent decision making

    Frequently make decisions that impact other people.

  • 95%

    Face-to-face discussions

    Talk with people face-to-face.

  • 95%

    Contact with the public

    Work with customers or the public.

  • 94%

    Contact with people

    Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.

  • 93%

    Teamwork

    Work with people in a group or team.

  • 92%

    Physically close to people

    Work physically close to other people.

  • 92%

    Freedom to make decisions

    Have freedom to make decision on your own.

  • 91%

    Disease or infection

    Be exposed to disease or infections.

  • 91%

    Impact of decisions

    Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.

  • 90%

    Indoors, heat controlled

    Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.

  • 90%

    Lead or coordinate a team

    Lead others to do work activities.

  • 89%

    Consequence of error

    Work where mistakes have serious consequences.

  • 88%

    Unstructured work

    Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.

  • 87%

    Letters and memos

    Write letters and memos.

  • 86%

    Health and safety of others

    Take responsibility for the health and safety of others.

  • 85%

    Being exact or accurate

    Be very exact or highly accurate.

  • 84%

    Responsible for outcomes

    Take responsibility for the results of other people's work.

  • 82%

    Using your hands to handle, control, or feel

    Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.

  • 80%

    Spend time standing

    Spend time standing at work.

Occupational Information Network
O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 29-1131.00 - Veterinarians.


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