Demand for actuaries in Australia

[Fluttershy]

I keep hearing conflicting messages about how much demand there is for actuaries in Australia. Some websites and people I've spoken to say that there is a huge demand, because of the low number of actuaries in Australia (1000-1500) and the increasingly uncertain nature of the world we live in. Others say that there is low demand in Australia but that countries such as the USA and Singapore are in need of more actuaries. So if I do actuarial studies at university, is there a job in Australia for me? I'd rather not move overseas if it can be helped at all

[Gloamglozer]

Become a mathematician!    It satisfies both intellectual and financial hunger!

http://www.afr.com/p/national/education/sums_add_up_for_numerate_graduates_VQ3e5x1F8yFkmtQyDwBjSK

[tram]

There is a pretty good chance of you getting a job if you're looking hard enough. You have a decent chance as the majority of people doing actuarial studies at melb uni are international so will find it much harder to find a job locally.

You'll be very likely to find a job if you are
1) happy to move to sydney
2) Willing to work in non-traditional actuarial areas (e.g. more general risk areas as to the more traditional insurance jobs)

So in short, yes you can be pretty sure of a job if you have decent extra curricula's, communication skills and complete an actuarial degree (especially with honours).

Hope that helps!

[paulsterio]

I don't know much about Actuarial Studies but my friend's brother is an actuary, graduating from UoM like 7 years ago or something and he has a high paying (well it's not THAT high paying, but it's high in the scheme of things - in the 90s I think) job, working for Ernst and Young. Basically he says that there's good job opportunities for Actuaries after graduation because a lot of actuarial studies majors actually don't end up becoming an actuary because there's a really hard exam which very few people pass (Tram would be able to say more about this?) - but yeah, basically he said a lot end up in Finance or other fields - so if you end up getting there I think you would be fine.

[tram]

I don't know much about Actuarial Studies but my friend's brother is an actuary, graduating from UoM like 7 years ago or something and he has a high paying (well it's not THAT high paying, but it's high in the scheme of things - in the 90s I think) job, working for Ernst and Young. Basically he says that there's good job opportunities for Actuaries after graduation because a lot of actuarial studies majors actually don't end up becoming an actuary because there's a really hard exam which very few people pass (Tram would be able to say more about this?) - but yeah, basically he said a lot end up in Finance or other fields - so if you end up getting there I think you would be fine.

Yeah ,90k is pretty high paying, not as high paying as it would be if he was working as an actuary and already had his accreditations wicch usually takes at least three/four years after you graduate to pass and the final exam has something like a 30-40% pass rate. If you do get to this staege and are fully accreditated you can be pretty confident of having a job, and a good paying one at that.

But yeah, people with acturial majors go into all sorts of fields, mostly something finance-y, personally i'm planning to go into management consulting, but i'm probably in the minority