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How to become a baker in Australia

Bakers prepare and bake bread loaves and rolls.

$1,417median full-time pay a week, before tax
+8.0%projected job growth to 2035
18,700people in this job

Pay and growth are for the wider bakers and pastrycooks group, which is as fine as the data goes. The all-jobs median is $1,852 a week. Jobs in the bakers and pastrycooks group are projected to grow 8.0% between May 2025 and May 2035, slower than the 13.3% projected for all jobs. Projections are indicative, not forecasts, and JSA says they don't yet reflect generative AI.

What the job involves

  • Checks the cleanliness of equipment and operating site to ensure compliance with health and safety regulation.
  • Checks quality of raw materials and weighs ingredients.
  • Implements appropriate baking techniques.
  • Prepares pastry fillings.
  • Monitors oven temperature and products appearance.
  • Co-ordinates the forming, loading, baking, unloading, de-panning and cooling of batches of breads, rolls and pastry products.

How to get there

What it usually takes. A Certificate III or IV, including at least two years of on-the-job training where it is a Certificate III. This is the skill level Jobs and Skills Australia gives the bakers and pastrycooks group, and some roles differ.

What people in the job have. Highest qualification held: 13% a degree or higher, 8% a diploma, 38% a Certificate III or IV.

Apprenticeship or traineeship. Baker is on the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List (1 April 2026), with qualifications including Certificate III in Bread Baking, Certificate III in Baking, Certificate III in High Volume Baking. Find a provider at Your Career or your state's TAFE.

Many jobs also need registration, a licence or a specific accredited course. Check the professional body or regulator before you choose.

Courses that can lead here

We haven't matched this job to courses in the admissions lists. It usually starts with training on the job or at a registered training provider, not a course through an admissions centre. See Your Career.

Does it fit your interests?

Strongest interest areas for this kind of work: Realistic, Conventional, Artistic.

Realistic
Investigative
Artistic
Social
Enterprising
Conventional

From O*NET ratings for "Bakers", the closest US occupation in JSA's correspondence (a good match). US ratings are a guide to Australian jobs, not a measurement of them.

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Job data: © Commonwealth of Australia, Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profiles, February 2026 and Employment Projections, May 2025 to May 2035 (Victoria University), CC BY 4.0. Jobs and Skills Australia, ANZSCO 2013 Version 1.2 to O*NET-SOC 2019 Taxonomy correspondence.

Apprenticeships: Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, 1 April 2026.

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Curve ATAR has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

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