The world of work is changing. Digitalisation, globalisation, the green transition and population ageing are having a profound impact on the type and quality of jobs that are available and the skills required to perform them. The extent to which individuals, firms and economies can reap the benefits of these changes will depend critically on the readiness of adult learning systems to help people develop and maintain relevant skills over their working careers.

The demand for skills has undergone significant change across OECD countries over the past few decades in response to automation, population ageing, globalisation, and more recently with the COVID‑19 pandemic and the ongoing transition to a green economy. In such a rapidly changing world of work, adults in Australia are being challenged to upskill, retrain and consider alternative career paths. Mid-career individuals are in a unique position to take advantage of these changes: they have acquired considerable skills and experience but still have many years left in the labour market before retirement. However, to leverage these advantages, they could benefit from the help of a career professional in navigating this changing labour market and identifying suitable retraining and upskilling opportunities to remain productive and satisfied at work.

This chapter first looks at trends in the labour market and the demand and supply of skills in Australia. It assesses the degree to which mid-career adults participate in training or change jobs – both possible responses to changing demand for skills. Finally, it reviews survey evidence on the use and inclusiveness of career guidance by mid-career adults in Australia.

This chapter elaborates on what constitutes high-quality career guidance for mid-career adults. Taking into account their unique needs, the chapter considers how career guidance services for mid-career adults should be delivered, how to motivate mid-career adults to seek out career guidance, who should provide the services, and how to fund them.

This chapter reviews the Australian system of career guidance for mid-career adults and makes recommendations for how it could be strengthened. It provides a brief overview of how the overall system of career guidance for adults is co‑ordinated, and then analyses provision for different sub-groups.