Top 10 High Income Skills of 2023
(Based on Real Data)

High-income skills allow you to future-proof your career, making you valuable to any employer. Our data reveals what the high-income skills of 2023 are.

The workforce is undergoing huge fluctuations. COVID-19 has made the workplace more flexible and has increased remote-working opportunities. At the same time, advances in technology will change many roles and may replace others with robots. There are specific high demand skills that will help future-proof your career and make money in 2023.

We’ve compared data from 4 trusted sources – the World Economic Forum (WEF), Hays, RMIT, LinkedIn, and JobOutlook – to make an unbiased list of high-income skills that are also predicted to be skills of the future.

The top high-income skills are:

Skills such as critical and creative thinking, or unique problem-solving approaches, are unlikely to be displaced by technology any time soon.

Human-focused skills like leadership and empathy are also going to be increasingly important – and irreplaceable by machines.

Complex skill sets such as technological skills are also rarer in the workforce, so if you hone these, you may get a competitive edge and help you make more money.

Fortunately, you can learn many of these hard and soft skills if you’re interested and dedicated. There are in-person and online courses available at a range of levels: not all of them require many years of study. Some can be even be completed alongside your current job.

Product marketing is the skill of promoting and selling products. Product marketers understand the product’s target audience and use marketing strategies and messaging to increase demand. It’s a high-income skill because:

Roles that incorporate product marketing skills, plus related full-time equivalent salaries and expected future growth:

One, unlike some other types of marketing, it’s really tangible. If you have 100 items and you sell 50 items you have 50 left. Very easy to measure.

The second reason is that it’s not going anywhere, we’ll always buy products – so if you can make money for a client selling their inventory (and prove it – back to point one), you’ve provided value to them and you can likely use the same set of skills to sell any number of different products.”

To become a product marketing manager, we recommend studying a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) or a Double Diploma of Marketing and Communication + Business (Business Development), to give you the skills and knowledge to kickstart your career. If you’re unsure about committing your time and money, many marketing certificates and diplomas can help get you started with entry-level roles.

Marketing aims to get people enthusiastic about buying your product. Doing this using digital platforms such as social media, YouTube, web ads, and similar is known as digital marketing. 

It’s a high-income skill because – as with product marketing – it’s future-proof, creative, and analytical. It also involves having a solid tech skill set. You’ll need to know the ins and outs of different platforms, web analytics, email marketing, affiliate marketing, blogging, and search engine optimisation (SEO).

The WEF has identified technological proficiency as a skill set in shortage and increasing demand. Your copywriting skill will also be high: you’ll be able to write in a way that appeals to a broad audience.

Roles that incorporate digital marketing skills and their related salaries and expected future growth are similar to product marketing, with the ability to specialise in digital roles, such as social media manager, online business, or content marketing roles.

Whether you are trying to market a product or service-based business, being visible online is the way to get in front of people and build a successful brand. Now, more than ever, people with creative marketing and communication skills are paving the way for the future, and these skill sets are in ever-increasing high demand.”

Want to further your career by growing a digital marketing skillset but don’t know where to start? There are several courses available online, but if you want a well-structured program that provides skills, certificates and direct career opportunities, consider something like the Professional Growth Marketing Certificate.

Online only courses, with no physical classes and no long study programmes, are perfect for working professionals. Find a digital marketing course and learn everything you need to know so you can put your new knowledge into practice from the first day of class.

Business management involves taking a leadership role in project management or among people in corporate settings. It’s a skill for top earners because:

Roles that incorporate business management skills and their related salaries and expected future growth are:

In our office, we have a saying: ‘Good accountants record the past; great accountants influence the future.’ Using your skills to help with improving the future is vital. Whether is it creating and implementing a strategy or building a forward-looking three-way financial model, your future improving skills will put you in a great position to future proof your career as well as command a high income.”

Are you ambitious about your career? If the answer is yes, you’re unlikely to be happy where you are for much longer. But the going can be tough; taking time out for study and staying focused can be difficult.

If you’re looking to start a career in business management, we recommend a Certificate or Diploma in Business Administration.

Alternatively if you are highly experienced and looking to upskill for a senior-level manager role, the Master of Management course will help you achieve that.

Interested in finding out more? Enquire about a course today to get a callback from a course advisor about your next step.

Management consulting is all about helping organisations (from small businesses and startups to big corporations and government departments) improve their business practices. It may involve developing new processes and procedures, rethinking business strategy, and identifying untapped skills or weaknesses to address in the workforce.

Management consulting is a high-income skill for similar reasons to business management. You need great people skills. You also need to able to think strategically and solve open-ended complex problems. Many management consultants are further valued for their years of industry experience and the hard skills that result. Six-figure salaries are typical for management consultants.

Roles that incorporate management consulting skills and their related salaries and expected future growth are:

Getting into that high-paying management job is no easy task. There are high expectations and very demanding deadlines.

What makes things worse is that many people who assume they have the skills to take on such a role end up crashing and burning — because they lack key management and leadership knowledge.

The right online management courses can help you avoid this common pitfall. Gain the skills you need to quickly break into or advance your career as a management consultant or leadership expert.

Software development involves designing, programming, and testing computer software or other digital applications. SDLC is performing those software development processes in a business context, essentially producing the best software you can as quickly as possible.

SDLC is a high-income skill because:

Workplaces increasingly rely on both internet and intranet connections for basic tasks and collaboration. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically demonstrated the importance of connectivity and the infrastructure that supports it.

Those involved with creating, maintaining, and securing these networks have much-needed skills.

These are also high-paying skills because it requires a high degree of tech-savviness and knowledge of both physical networks and cloud computing. It also requires good problem-solving skills – often, when things go wrong, it’s not clear what the cause or solution is.

Roles that incorporate computer networking skills and their related salaries and expected future growth are:

Artificial intelligence is playing a central role in the tech revolution we’re already beginning to witness. A big part of what makes new technologies so powerful is the ability for programs to “learn” while they’re being implemented.

For example, the “CAPTCHA” tasks some websites make you do to prove you’re not a robot is a form of machine learning: each time someone tells them that a picture is of a boat or bicycle, the program gets better at recognising boats and bikes by itself.

Given the demand for tech skills in areas like artificial intelligence, understanding how to design, teach, and implement artificial intelligence is a high-income skill. On top of this, it also involves software developers’ skills: advanced technology skills, problem-solving, and working collaboratively.

Roles that incorporate artificial intelligence skills are similar to those listed in software development.

While developers focus on the functionality of tech products like software and websites, designers focus on the visual experience. They make the products clear, easy to navigate, and attractive. Both graphic and web design are high-income skills because:

Roles that make use of this skill include:

While developers focus on the functionality of tech products like software and websites, designers focus on the visual experience. They make the products clear, easy to navigate, and attractive. Both graphic and web design are high-income skills because:

Retail is a vast industry that employs around 1.3 million Australians. The available jobs are diverse, and specific skills can lead to high incomes in the sector. Like with marketing skills, your goal is to make products and services appeal to consumers – a creative, problem-solving task. Like managerial work, you need to be in tune with people and understand how to work with them to get the best outcomes.

Roles that incorporate retail sales skills and their related salaries and expected future growth are:

There is a range of learnable skills that will set you up for making money sustainably throughout your career. These skills involve creative problem-solving, working well with people, leadership, and understanding human psychology.

Salary data sourced from JobOutlook.gov.au and Talent.com