Hospital workforce

Who works in our hospitals?

The hospital workforce in Australia is large and diverse, covering many occupations including medical officers, nurses, diagnostic and allied health professionals (such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists), administrative and clerical staff, and domestic and other personal care staff.

Public hospitals

In 2021–22, there were 438,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed in public hospitals. The number of FTE staff has increased 3.8% per year on average since 2017–18.

Table 1: Staff and average salaries, public hospitals, 2021–22
Type of staffAverage number of full-time equivalent staffAverage salary (per year)
Nurses181,004 (41%)$115,244
Administrative and clerical staff83,478 (19%)$91,232
Diagnostic and allied health professionals72,912 (17%)$103,100
Salaried medical officers53,946 (12%)$241,168
Domestic and other personal care staff47,176 (11%)$74,192

The workforce described here includes people employed to manage and deliver public hospital services in public hospitals themselves, as well as within local hospital networks (LHNs) and state/territory health authorities. These staff numbers do not include visiting medical officers in public hospitals who are generally employed by the hospital on a contractual, rather than salaried basis.

More information about the data

Hospital workforce

Note: workforce and average salary have been updated since the web update on 3 October 2023 following a resubmission from a state/territory.