Managers of Health Services in Australia 2006-2016

Abstract

Purpose: Activity in health services is expanding faster than population growth and that of the production of all goods and services in Australia. This paper is concerned with the number and characteristics of its managers in relation to the number of people employed and resources used. It also assesses different trends in hospitals and other medical and health services.

Methodology/Design: Design of the analyses follows specifications set by the authors for tabulations prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) from the censuses of population conducted by ABS in 2006 and 2016.

Analysis: Assesses changes in the number and variations in the characteristics of managers of hospitals and medical and other health services, in relation to the number of people employed, contrasted with changes in all industries.

Findings: There are different trends in hospitals and medical and other health services, with a decline in the number of employees per manager in medical and other health services and a slight rise in hospitals. The older average age of health service managers continued to rise, similarly to that for all industries. The proportion of female managers in health services, below the average for all employees, increased somewhat during the decade. The distribution among the various fields of study remained about the same; but level of education, higher than the average for all industries continued to rise.The growth in average income of managers during the decade was somewhat lower than in all industries, due to a lower increase rate in medical and other health services. The proportion of managers of indigenous status rose substantially – almost double the proportion in all industries.

Implications: The findings are of relevance to those concerned with the management of health services and training of the growing number of managers of health services in Australia.