Midwife
A midwife provides the clinical care and continuous support a woman needs through pregnancy, labour and the weeks after birth.
- Median salary
- $109,900
3.7%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 19,400
2.1%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +26.7%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Low
- automation risk
- Average hours
- 41/wk
+1h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- In shortage
national
Midwives lead a woman's care through pregnancy, birth and the six weeks that follow, and their scope goes further than general nursing because they can manage a straightforward birth from start to finish on their own. Most work in hospital maternity units, birth centres or community caseload teams, calling in an obstetrician when a pregnancy or labour becomes complex. Many follow the same small group of women across a whole pregnancy, which is what usually separates the job from ward-based nursing.
How much do midwifes earn?
The median full-time salary for a midwife is $109,900 per annum, before tax, up $22,600 since 2018.
Public hospital midwives are paid under state and territory enterprise agreements, so the figure shifts depending on where you work and which classification level you sit at. Shift work, night duty, on-call and weekend penalties add a meaningful amount on top of the base rate, and rural or remote incentives can push it higher again. Privately practising midwives and those on caseload contracts earn differently, often without the same penalty structure.
What does a midwife do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Sitting with a woman through labour, reading how she is coping and adjusting pain relief and support as things change
- Watching for the moment a straightforward birth turns into an emergency and acting on it immediately
- Visiting mother and baby in the days after birth, catching feeding difficulties or signs of mood problems early
- Explaining to families what is normal and what needs checking across pregnancy, birth and the newborn weeks
- Being redeployed to another ward or asked to stay on when the roster is short, which happens regularly
What skills do midwifes need?
Employers look for clinical assessment and treatment, patient care and support, care planning and coordination, backed by cardiotocography (CTG) monitors fluency and strong written communication.
Specialist skills
- Clinical assessment and treatment
- Patient care and support
- Care planning and coordination
- Health education and advice
Software and tools
- cardiotocography (CTG) monitors
- ultrasound scanning equipment
- partograph charts
- electronic health records (EHR)
- blood pressure and fetal Doppler devices
General skills
- Written communication
- Attention to detail
- Empathy and interpersonal care
- Problem solving
Is the job growing?
About 19,400 people work as midwifes in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 26.7% over the decade to 2035. That's very strong growth. Few roles in Australia are expanding this fast, and it points to solid demand for years to come.
How do you become a midwife?
Here's the path most midwifes take, step by step.
- 1Complete a Bachelor of Midwifery
Three years full time at a university, open to school leavers as a direct entry degree. The course includes supervised clinical placements in hospital and community settings, and it is the standard route to registration.
- 2Or take the graduate entry route as a registered nurse
Registered nurses can complete a Graduate Diploma of Midwifery in about 18 months instead, building on their nursing degree. This is the faster option if you already hold nursing registration.
- 3Register with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
You cannot work as a midwife without registration through AHPRA. Registration is renewed each year and requires continuing professional development, plus criminal history and English language checks.
- 4Apply for a new graduate midwife program
Most hospital employers run structured first-year programs with rotations across antenatal, birth suite and postnatal areas. They are paid positions and the usual way to move from student to confident practitioner.
- 5Build toward caseload or specialist practice
Experienced midwives move into continuity of care caseloads, postgraduate study in areas such as neonatal care or education, or privately practising midwifery, which carries extra insurance and Medicare requirements.
Ready to apply as a midwife?
Whether you're working toward becoming a midwife or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a midwife move to?
Moving into Nurse Manager typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $28,300 a year more on average.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse Manager Midwives bring clinical leadership and care coordination to nurse management, with additional management study required.Known move | +$28,300 | 13% | requalify |
| Director of Nursing Midwives bring operational and clinical leadership to director of nursing roles, with further study in health management required.Known move | +$25,300 | 33% | reskill |
| Registered Nurse Midwives bring maternal and neonatal assessment skills to registered nurse work, with a short bridging course in general nursing.Known move | +$4,100 | 55% | short course |
| Nurse Practitioner Midwives bring advanced clinical judgement and autonomous care to nurse practitioner work, extending their scope within endorsed practice.Known move | +$4,100 | 64% | minimal |
| Nurse Educator Midwives bring clinical midwifery expertise and mentoring skills to nurse education, with further study in teaching required.Known move | −$700 | 24% | requalify |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a midwife?
The typical midwife is 38 years old; 100% are women, 43% work full-time, and full-timers average 41 hours a week.
- 38
- Median age
- 100%
- Female share
- 43%
- Full-time
- +1h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a midwife?
The work runs on the unpredictability of birth: a shift can be quiet for hours and then demand everything at once, and you rarely finish a list the way you planned it. Midwives who stay in the job tend to like the relationships and the hands-on clinical judgement, and to tolerate the rosters, the interruptions and the emotional weight that come with them.
What people like
- Seeing the same women through the whole journey. In caseload and continuity models you book the antenatal visits, attend the birth and do the home visits, so you know the history rather than reading it at handover.
- Clinical judgement that is genuinely yours. In a normal labour you are the one watching the tracing, deciding when to change position or offer pain relief, and calling for help when the picture shifts.
- The work is physical and immediate. Most of the day is spent with people rather than paperwork: hands-on assessment, coaching, and practical help with feeding and recovery.
- A tight team on the floor. Birth suite runs on people who know each other's habits, and that closeness is a big part of why the hard shifts are manageable.
What people find hard
- Shift work, nights and on-call. Maternity units run around the clock, so evenings, weekends and night duty are built into the roster, and births do not wait for a convenient time.
- Understaffing and redeployment. Being moved to cover another ward, or asked to stay past the end of a shift, is common, and it eats into the continuity that makes the job rewarding.
- The emotional weight of poor outcomes. Most births are straightforward, but you will be present for stillbirth, severe complications and families in crisis, and that stays with you.
- Little control over the pace. You can plan an antenatal clinic and spend the day in birth suite instead, which suits some people and frustrates others.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ midwifes?
Health Care and Social Assistance employs the largest share of midwifes.
Top employing industries
- 1Health Care and Social Assistance
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 65.2% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 29.2% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 3.2% | |
| Year 12 or below | 0.9% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 0.2% |
Will AI replace midwifes?
Midwifery has low exposure to AI and automation, because the work happens in a room with a labouring woman rather than at a screen. Monitoring technology already interprets some of what it records, with cardiotocography software flagging suspicious tracings and electronic health records prompting for risk factors, but those alerts are inputs to a midwife's judgement rather than a decision. The physical, relational and emergency parts of the job stay firmly with the midwife.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Monitoring mother and baby during labourCTG software may highlight a concerning pattern, but reading the full clinical picture and deciding whether to change position, call the obstetrician or prepare for theatre is the midwife's call.35%low
- Antenatal and postnatal checksMeasuring blood pressure, palpating the abdomen and talking through feeding difficulties all depend on being in the room and picking up what a woman does not say.30%low
- Documentation and clinical handoverElectronic health records now auto-fill observations and prompt for risk assessments, which saves time, but the handover summary still has to be written by the person who was there.25%moderate
- Rostering, bookings and referral adminClinic scheduling, appointment reminders and referral tracking are increasingly handled by hospital systems, which removes a small but real chunk of administrative work.10%high
Common questions about becoming a midwife
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do midwives earn in Australia?
The median full-time pay for a midwife is $109,900 per annum, before tax. What you take home depends heavily on your state or territory agreement, your classification level, and how much penalty-rate shift work you do.
How do you become a midwife?
You complete a Bachelor of Midwifery, or a Graduate Diploma of Midwifery if you are already a registered nurse, then register with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia through AHPRA. Registration is required before you can practise, and it is renewed annually with continuing professional development.
Are midwives in demand in Australia?
Midwives are currently in shortage nationally, and employment is projected to grow 26.7% over the decade to 2035. That means qualified midwives are generally able to find work across hospital, community and regional settings, though graduate program places in popular metropolitan hospitals can still be competitive.
Will AI replace midwives?
No. The job is rated as having low exposure to AI, because the core of it is physical presence, clinical judgement in an unpredictable room, and reading a woman's condition in person. Tools such as cardiotocography monitors with automated tracing analysis and electronic health records change how information is recorded and flagged, but a midwife still decides what the tracing means and what to do next.
What can a midwife move into later?
Moving into registered nursing is common, with median pay $4,100 more than midwifery and a short bridging course, since the assessment skills carry across. Nurse practitioner work builds on midwifery judgement and comes with $4,100 more, while nurse management sits at $28,300 more and needs management study. Many experienced midwives instead move toward privately practising midwifery or caseload work, which is often where earnings grow.
Is midwifery harder than nursing?
The two overlap a lot, but midwifery carries a narrower scope with higher stakes in the moment, because you may be the most senior clinician in the room during a normal birth. Nursing offers broader variety and easier movement between specialties, while midwifery offers deeper relationships with fewer patients at a time.
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