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Secretaries

Secretaries perform secretarial, clerical and other administrative tasks in support of Managers, Legal Professionals and other professionals.

Business & adminANZSCO 5212
$1,626/wkMedian full-time pay
30kPeople employed
−6%Growth to 2035
56%Work full time
46Median age
Source: ABS · JSA, 2025-26ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Labour Force via Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), February 2026; ABS Employee Earnings and Hours May 2025; JSA Employment Projections, May 2025 base. ANZSCO 5212.More about our sources: How we check our facts

What they do

The main tasks of this occupation, from the national occupation standard.

liaising with other staff to arrange meetings, and to gain and provide informationpreparing reports, briefing notes and correspondence, and proofreading work for typographical and grammatical errorsmaintaining appointment diaries and making travel arrangementsprocessing incoming and outgoing mail, filing correspondence and maintaining recordsanswering telephone calls, responding to inquiries and redirecting callerstaking and transcribing dictation of letters and other documents
Source: JSA occupation profileTask list from the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile for ANZSCO 5212 (ANZSCO task statements).More about our sources: How we check our facts

The outlook

29,500 people do this work today

Employment is projected to go from 30,200 in 2025 to 28,500 by 2035, about 1,700 fewer people.

Most of the jobs are in NSW and QLD, with VIC third.

Source: JSA · ABS, 2025-26ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Labour Force via Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), February 2026; ABS Employee Earnings and Hours May 2025; JSA Employment Projections, May 2025 base. ANZSCO 5212.More about our sources: How we check our facts
30.2k2025
27.9k2030 PROJ.
28.5k2035 PROJ.

Getting in

There is no single way in. 27% trained through VET, 17% hold a degree.

Both paths are common in this field. These are the nationally recognised courses mapped to this occupation, with the number of registered training providers that offer each one.

Source: JSA · training.gov.auEducation split: JSA (Jobs and Skills Australia) occupation profile, using ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Census data, ANZSCO 5212. Qualification mapping and provider counts: training.gov.au, the national register of vocational education, October 2026. Listed providers are current registered training providers (private providers and TAFE institutes).More about our sources: How we check our facts

Nationally recognised training · most offered first

BSB30320Certificate III

Certificate III in Legal Services

Business Services Training Package.

See 15 providers
BSB50720Diploma

Diploma of Paralegal Services

Business Services Training Package.

See 11 providers

Providers are shown in A-Z order on each course page. A listing is not a recommendation.

Jobs open right now

30k Australians do this work. See who is hiring this month.

Search job ads by state

Each link opens seek.com.au in a new tab, showing ads posted in the last month. SEEK is a job site; we link there because that is where most Australian jobs are advertised. We have no commercial relationship with SEEK.

Source: ABS · JSA, 2025-26State chart shows people employed, not current job ads. ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Labour Force via Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), February 2026; ABS Employee Earnings and Hours May 2025; JSA Employment Projections, May 2025 base. ANZSCO 5212.More about our sources: How we check our facts

People employed by state, 2025-26

NSW12.3k
QLD5.2k
VIC4.3k
WA3.6k
SA2.6k
TAS0.5k
ACT0.5k
NT0.4k