Current labour market rating
Previous labour market rating (April 2014)
Shortage
Shortage
Comments
Shortages are evident across the public and private sectors in general sonography and a range of specialist areas such as musculoskeletal, vascular, and obstetrics and gynaecology.
Survey results
 A Department of Employment survey of employers who had recently advertised for sonographers found that 18 per cent of vacancies were filled within the survey period. This compares with 17 per cent of vacancies filled in 2014 and 14 per cent in 2013.
 There was an average of two applicants per vacancy, one qualified applicant per vacancy and less than one suitable applicant for every two vacancies. o For the purposes of this report, applicants were considered qualified if they were fully accredited with the Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry (ASAR).
 Regional employers had less success in filling vacancies than their Sydney counterparts (14 per cent filled compared with 25 per cent). o Unfilled regional vacancies in the survey were distributed across western, central western and southern NSW. o Shortages were evident in the public and private sectors and in a range of specialist areas such as general sonography, musculoskeletal, vascular, and obstetrics and gynaecology. o Two-thirds of the regional vacancies surveyed did not attract a single qualified applicant.
 Vacancies for Sydney-based positions generally attracted more qualified applicants than those based in regional NSW (an average of just under three per vacancy, compared with one for every two vacancies in the regions). o However, in many cases qualified applicants were based interstate or were seeking more remuneration that the employer was offering. A number of private practices stated that the remuneration that qualified applicants were seeking (up to $70 to $80 per hour) would make it unviable for the employer to continue bulk billing patients for scans. o Unfilled positions were distributed across the public and private sectors and in various specialisations including general sonography and obstetrics.
Unsuitable applicants
 The most common reason cited by employers for the unsuitability of applicants was that they were not fully accredited with the ASAR. In several cases some applicants were overseas qualified or had completed the academic requirement for accreditation but had not yet completed the necessary period of clinical experience for full accreditation.
Labour Economics Office, New South Wales
Department of Employment

o A number of vacancies with NSW Health were advertised as sonographer/radiographers due to classifications requirements under the relevant industrial instrument. In these cases a number of applicants were considered unsuitable because they did not have current accreditation or registration in both sonography and radiography.
Demand and supply trends
 Demand for sonographers has grown solidly in recent years due to improvements in the technology, its use in a wider range of diagnostic procedures and higher public sector and private sector investment in equipment. o The number of fully accredited and active sonographers in NSW was about 1970 in March
2015. This represents a growth rate of 6.0 per cent per annum over the past three years.
1
 The number of student sonographers has grown more strongly than qualified sonographers in recent years. o The number of accredited student sonographers in NSW was 255 in March 2015. This represents a growth of 11 per cent per annum over the past three years.
2
 Immigration data is only available for the broader category of medical imaging professionals which includes diagnostic radiographer, sonographer, radiation therapist and nuclear medicine technologist. o Net permanent and long-term migration of medical imaging professionals from overseas to
NSW averaged under 30 per annum in the five years to 2013-14.
3 There has been no clear upward or downward trend in net immigration over this period. The available evidence suggests that net overseas immigration is a minor source of supply to the occupation.
Other indicators and issues
 A number of employers and industry bodies expressed the view that there is a shortage of clinical places available for student sonographers seeking to gain the necessary hours of supervised clinical practice. Several private and public sector employers surveyed for this report stated that they were unable to increase the number of student sonographers they currently employed due to their inability to recruit sufficient experienced sonographers to undertake the necessary supervisory duties and service existing caseloads.
1 Unpublished data supplied by the Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry.
2 Unpublished data supplied by the Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry.
3 Department of Immigration and Border Protection, overseas arrivals and departures by ANZSCO Unit group. Data refers to net permanent and long-term arrivals.
Labour Economics Office, New South Wales
Department of Employment